Etymologically
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captiosus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kap.tiˈoː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kap.t͡siˈɔː.s̬us][1]

Forms

captiōsus (feminine captiōsa, neuter captiōsum, comparative captiōsior); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin captiō (“deception, sophism”) + -ōsus.[2][3][1] That noun, literally “a taking”, comes from capiō (“to take, catch”), which Etymonline traces to Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grasp”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the OLD record it first in Cicero,[5][2] who in the Pro Roscio comoedo exclaims at a partnership set up to ensnare one side (o societatem captiosam et indignam).[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is used above all of arguments meant to trap an opponent, and Lewis and Short note that it is most frequent in Cicero, who speaks of people “caught and deceived by fallacious and captious questions” (fallacibus et captiosis interrogationibus).[6][3] It also describes arrangements and actions, and in Cicero's Brutus it means simply harmful or disadvantageous.[2] The jurists of the Digest speak of a captiosum beneficium and a captiosa liberalitas, favours that conceal a trap.[6]

Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for “fallacious, deceitful”.[7] In British Medieval Latin it describes subtle, sophistical reasoning: Aldhelm writes of the captious conclusions of syllogisms, and later writers of a captious interpretation or a captious logician.[8] English borrowed it as captious around 1400.[4]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a deceptive partnership and of captious questions.[2][3][5]
  • 639–709 AD – Aldhelm writes of captious syllogisms.[8][5]
  • c. 1400 – English borrows it as captious.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Designed to ensnare, captious, sophistical;[2][6] (of a person) given to such arguments.[2][6]
  2. (of arrangements or actions) Deceptive, fallacious.[2][6]
  3. Harmful, disadvantageous.[2]
  • English captious

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press