Etymologically
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cavillatio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ka.wɪlˈlaː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ka.vilˈlat.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

cavillātiō f (genitive cavillātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cavillor (“to jest, banter”) + -tiō,[2][1][3] and cavillor comes from cavilla (“jesting, banter”).[4] The origin of that noun is disputed: de Vaan lists it, with a “maybe”, among the derivatives of cavus (“hollow”), and Wiktionary takes it as “hollow talk”, unrelated to calvor (“to trick”);[5][1] the OLD instead derives it from that verb, with an ending like that of favilla.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the TLL record it first in Plautus,[4][3] who has a parasite list cavillātiōnēs, adsentātiunculās ac pēiierātiunculās, “jokes, little flatteries and little false oaths”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is banter or raillery.[2][6] Cicero describes two kinds of wit, the one spread evenly through a conversation, which the ancients called cavillātiō, and the short sharp kind called dicācitās;[6] Festus defines it as a joking misrepresentation, and Suetonius uses it in his lives of Tiberius and Vespasian, once of bitter jesting.[6][2] Livy says that between the consuls there was more banter than serious dispute about the province.[2][6] From jesting misrepresentation it came to mean sophistry and quibbling, the sense most frequent in Quintilian;[6][2] Seneca cites Cicero for this sense.[6][2] Medieval writers in Britain used it of mockery and trickery, and in charters and law of a cavil or captious objection, especially in the formula “without any cavil”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a parasite's jokes.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero contrasts it with dicācitās.[6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of banter between consuls.[2][6]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it often of sophistry.[6][2]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of bitter jesting.[6]
  • 1223 – An English record uses it of a captious objection.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Raillery, banter, jesting, scoffing.[2][6]
  2. Sophistry, quibbling, captiousness.[2][6]
  3. (Medieval Latin, law) A cavil, captious objection.[7]
  • cavillor
  • cavilla
  • cavillātor

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 j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c 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