centumviralis

Forms

centumvirālis (neuter centumvirāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1] The OLD notes an abbreviated spelling in Cicero's Pro Caecina.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin centumvir + -ālis, from the name of the ⟨centumvirī⟩, a Roman court for civil cases such as inheritance suits.^[2][3] That noun is made of centum (“hundred”) and vir (“man”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *dḱmtom (“hundred”) and Proto-Indo-European *uiH-ró- (“man”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,^[5] who speaks of a centumviral trial and of boasting of oneself in centumviral cases.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It means belonging to the centumviri or their jurisdiction: Varro writes that one says a centumviral court is at Rome, and Valerius Maximus, the elder Seneca, Quintilian, Tacitus and Suetonius use it of their trials.^[2] Paulus' epitome of Festus explains that these trials are named after the centumviri.^[6] Suetonius has centumviralis hasta, the spear that stood for their court,^[2][7] and Gaius notes that a spear was set up at centumviral trials.^[2] Used as a noun, it is a case before the centumviri: Quintilian speaks of the divisions of the court into two “spears”, and Pliny the Younger of the praetor who presides over centumviral cases.^[2] Fronto uses it of a subject for declamation.^[2]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of centumviral trials and cases.^[2][3][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro, of the court at Rome.^[2][5]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian, as a noun for such a case.^[2][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius, centumvirālis hasta.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or belonging to the centumvirī, a Roman court for civil cases, or their jurisdiction: iūdicium centumvirāle, a centumviral trial;^[2][3][7] causa centumvirālis, a case tried by them.^[2][3][7]
2. (as a noun, with causa understood) A case before the centumviri.^[2]

Related words

• centumvir

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn