captio

Forms

captiō f (genitive captiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin capiō (“to take”) + -tiō.^[2][3][1] De Vaan suggests that it may continue an old noun *kap-ti-, from which captīvus may also have been formed.^[4] capiō goes back to Proto-Italic *kap-i- (“to seize”), which de Vaan derives from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂p-i- or from a non-Indo-European source.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,^[3][5] meaning a trick: in the Asinaria one character tells another captiones metuis, “you are afraid of tricks”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Plautus it also means the loss that a trick causes (ne quid captioni mihi sit, “so that I come to no harm by it”).^[2][6] In Cicero it is above all a fallacious argument of the dialecticians, a quibble,^[2][7] and Seneca uses it for what the Greeks called sophisms.^[3][8] Gellius and the jurists use it often,^[3] and the jurists also of the taking of a pledge and, apparently, of the right to take an inheritance.^[7][2]

In Late Latin it is the catching of an animal or the arrest of a person,^[8][6] and the Vulgate also uses it for a net.^[8] In medieval Latin it also meant hunting, fishing, imprisonment, a prison and the capture of a fortified place.^[9] English caption comes from it, directly or through Old French, first meaning “a taking, seizure”.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of tricks and of the harm they do.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of sophistical arguments.^[2][7][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca equates it with Greek sophisms.^[3][5]
• 140–180 AD – Gaius uses it of the taking of a pledge.^[7][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of catching and of a net.^[8][5]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as caption, “a taking, seizure”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A trick, an act of deception.^[2][7]
2. A piece of sophistry, a verbal quibble.^[2][7]
3. Loss, disadvantage.^[2][7]
4. (law) The taking of a pledge; apparently, the right to take an inheritance.^[7][2]
5. (Late Latin) A catching, capture; an arrest.^[8][6]
6. (Medieval Latin) Hunting, fishing; imprisonment; the capture of a fortified place.^[9]

Word family

• captiōsus
• captiuncula
• captensula

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b 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 f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com