Etymologically
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auctoramentum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [au̯k.toː.raːˈmɛn.tũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [au̯k.to.raˈmɛn.tum][1]

Forms

auctōrāmentum n (genitive auctōrāmentī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin auctōrō (“to hire oneself out, bind oneself”) + -mentum.[2][1] That verb is from auctor (“guarantor, seller”),[2][1] which de Vaan derives from augeō (“to increase”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and Georges record it first in Cicero, who calls the very wages of hired labourers a pledge of servitude (auctōrāmentum servitūtis).[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It named the terms on which one hired oneself out, especially as a gladiator: Seneca quotes the gladiator's oath to be burnt, bound and killed by the sword as the words of a most shameful contract.[2][6] More often it meant the fee paid for such service, and so any wage or reward, even for a murder.[2][4] Seneca also says that riches are a pledge of servitude.[4]

In Medieval Latin it meant the consent of a family to the sale of landed property.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the wages of hired men.[4][5]
  • c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius uses it for a fee paid for a killing.[2][5]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it for a gladiator's contract.[2][6][5]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius mentions a fee of 100,000 sesterces.[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The terms of hire, especially of gladiators; a contract.[2][6]
  2. A fee or wage paid for such service.[2][4]
  3. A reward, recompense.[2]
  4. (Medieval Latin) The consent of kinsfolk to the sale of landed property.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill