Etymologically
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arbitratus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ar.bɪˈtraː.tʊs], [ar.bɪˈtraː.tuːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ar.biˈtraː.tus], [ar.biˈtraː.tus][1]

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]

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