Etymologically
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arbitrium

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [arˈbɪ.tri.ũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [arˈbiː.tri.um][1]

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]

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