arbitratus

Forms

arbitrātus m (genitive arbitrātūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin arbitror (“to judge”) + -tus,^[2][3] the verb being formed from arbiter (“witness, judge”).^[4][5] De Vaan notes that Umbrian ařputrati (“according to the judgement”) can match ⟨arbitrātū⟩ exactly; since the more basic noun exists only in Latin, he looks for its origin there, probably in a compound with ad-, with the sporadic change of ⟨ad-⟩ to ⟨ar-⟩.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,^[4][5] whose Asinaria has “let it be your choice: burn it if you like”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the power of deciding, choice or judgement, in the sense of will rather than opinion.^[2][6] The ablative arbitratu with a genitive or possessive means “at the discretion of”, in law “by the decision of an arbitrator”, and colloquially “to one's heart's content”.^[2] It is also jurisdiction or power over subjects, as in Plautus' “they all surrender into the power of the Theban people”.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “choice, decision, direction, inclination”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of choice and of jurisdiction.^[2][4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Choice, decision, judgement;^[2][6][1] arbitratu, at the discretion of; to one's heart's content.^[2][6][1]
2. (law) The decision of an arbitrator, arbitration.^[2][1]
3. Jurisdiction, power.^[2][1]

Related words

• arbiter
• arbitror
• arbitrium

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson