arbitrarius

Forms

arbitrārius (feminine arbitrāria, neuter arbitrārium); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin arbiter (“judge, arbitrator”) + -ārius.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus is the first to use it, playing on the legal contrast between a fixed claim and one left to an arbitrator's estimate: hoc quidem profectō certum est, nōn est arbitrārium, “this much is certain, not a matter of opinion”.^[2][4][5] He also has the adverb arbitrāriō in the same sense.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Roman law it described what depends on the discretion of an arbitrator or judge: the jurist Gaius speaks of a formula “that is called arbitrāria”, and Ulpian of the āctiō arbitrāria.^[2][4][3] Gellius uses it of what depends on choice or will, as opposed to what is natural: words are natural rather than arbitrāria,^[2] and the beat of the pulse is natural, not voluntary.^[4][6]

Medieval documents use it of an arbitrator's ruling^[7][8] and of what is left to someone's will: voluntary masses, penances imposed at a bishop's discretion, delays fixed at the judges' pleasure.^[7][8] Niermeyer glosses it as arbitrary,^[9] the sense in which English took it about 1400.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus contrasts what is certain with what is arbitrārium.^[2][5]
• 140–180 AD – Gaius describes the formula arbitrāria of the civil procedure.^[2][5]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of things that depend on choice.^[2][5]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian writes of the āctiō arbitrāria.^[4][3][5]
• c. 1215 – A Zurich charter speaks of an arbitrator's sentence.^[7]
• c. 1400 – English borrows it as arbitrary.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to an arbitrator, or depending on his discretion.^[2][4]
2. Not fixed, uncertain.^[2][4]
3. Depending on choice; arbitrary, voluntary.^[2][6]
4. (Medieval Latin) Imposed at someone's discretion.^[8][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com