arbitrium

Forms

arbitrium n (genitive arbitriī or arbitrī); second declension^[1] Good manuscripts and inscriptions sometimes have arbiterium.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin arbiter (“witness, judge”) + -ium, as adulterium is from adulter.^[2][1][3] The origin of arbiter is uncertain: de Vaan considers ⟨*ad-biteros⟩, with ⟨ad-⟩ turned to ⟨ar-⟩ before a labial, and a link with baetō (“to go”), and compares Umbrian ařputrati (“by the judgement”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler record it in the Twelve Tables.^[4][5] The TLL finds it only twice before Cicero, in Terence and the Rhetorica ad Herennium.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Arbitrium is arbitration, the settling of a dispute by an arbiter (Cicero: quid est in arbitriō?), then any decision or judgement, the power to decide, and control or authority: meī arbitriī esse, “to be in my power”, suō arbitriō, “on one's own initiative”, līberum arbitrium, “freedom of action”.^[2][3] It is also the verdict itself, the sum allowed for a funeral, and one's wishes or pleasure (meō arbitriō, “as I choose”).^[2] In post-Augustan poets it is also presence, the witnesses present (from arbiter “witness”).^[3]

In Church Latin it is free choice and free will (līberum arbitrium).^[7] The TLL notes that it is rare in poetry except in Horace and Ovid.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – In the Twelve Tables.^[4][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it.^[6][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of arbitration.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy: līberum arbitrium.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. arbitration.^[2][3][1]
2. A decision, judgement; verdict, opinion.^[2][1][7]
3. The power to decide; discretion; free will.^[2][1][7]
4. Control, authority, dominion.^[2][1]
5. Wish, pleasure, inclination.^[2][1]
6. (post-Augustan poetry) Presence; witnesses.^[3]

Related words

• arbiter
• arbitror
• arbitrātus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson