cautio

Forms

cautiō f (genitive cautiōnis); third declension^[1] Paul the Deacon's Festus says that the older form was cavitiō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin caveō (“to beware, take care”) + -tiō.^[4][5] De Vaan traces caveō to Proto-Italic *kawē- and Proto-Indo-European *kouh₁-éie- (“to perceive”), comparing Ancient Greek κοέω (koéō, “to perceive, understand”) and Sanskrit कवि (kaví-, “seer, poet, wise man”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus.^[7] In the OLD's quotation Plautus has someone say he must take care that nothing knocks out his teeth.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is taking care, caution, circumspection: Cicero speaks of departing from his habit of caution and diligence.^[4] It is also a precaution: Cicero advises a friend among his precautions to avoid the Treveri.^[4] In law it is a written stipulation or proviso, as the clause in Rullus' land law, and a written undertaking or guarantee, as in Cicero's speech for Roscius the actor.^[4] It is then the document itself: Cicero sends a friend a little Greek bond in his own hand.^[4] Niermeyer records the medieval senses a deed of security and a charter of promises.^[8] Church Latin glosses it caution, warning, security, warranty, bond, bail, guarantee, surety.^[9] English caution comes from it through Old French, from about 1300, first meaning bail or guarantee.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of taking care.^[4][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of caution, of a proviso and of a written bond.^[4][7]
• c. 1300 – English caution, first of bail.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Care, caution, circumspection;^[4][3][1][9] cautiō est nē, one must take care that not; a precaution.^[4][3][1][9]
2. (law) A written stipulation, proviso or exception.^[4][1]
3. (law) A written undertaking, guarantee, bond; the document containing it.^[4][9]
4. (Medieval Latin) A deed of security; a charter of promises.^[8]

Word family

• cautiōnālis

Related words

• caveō
• cautus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson