certatio

Forms

certātiō f (genitive certātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin certō¹ (“to contend for superiority”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3] De Vaan treats the verb under certus (“fixed, certain”), which continues the old past participle of cernō (“to distinguish”) and goes back to Proto-Italic *krito- (“distinguished”) and Proto-Indo-European *krito- (“sifted”).^[4] Ernout and Meillet, as he reports, take the verb as an iterative of the root verb rather than a derivative of the adjective; since such iteratives are built on the past participle, he finds that the explanations come to the same thing.^[4] Compare Ancient Greek κριτός (kritós, “separate”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Ennius,^[4] in a tragedy that Cicero quotes: “magna inest certatio” (“there is a great struggle in it”).^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

The OLD defines the general sense as a struggle for superiority or mastery, and distinguishes its use for fighting, for sports and for lawsuits.^[2] Sisenna has it of a fight that went back to swords once the javelins were spent;^[2] Cicero, in On the Laws, speaks of bodily contests at the public games, and Suetonius of the contests of athletes beside the fights of gladiators.^[2][5] In law it was a contest in court,^[2][5] and with the genitive of the penalty, in the law quoted in On the Laws and in Livy, the contest before the people over a fine.^[2][5]

It was also used figuratively, of the contest between virtue and pleasure and of an honourable rivalry between friends in Cicero, and of exercising minds by contests in Vitruvius.^[5][7] Lewis and Short note that in good prose it is most frequent in Cicero.^[5]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it in a tragedy.^[4][5][8]
• 190–159 BC – Terence has it in the Adelphoe.^[2][5][8]
• 120–67 BC – Sisenna uses it of a fight.^[2][5][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of athletic contests, lawsuits and figurative rivalry.^[2][5][8]
• 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy uses it of a contest over a fine.^[2][8]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of the contests of athletes.^[2][5][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A struggle for superiority, rivalry, contention.^[2][5]
2. A fight, combat.^[2][5]
3. An athletic contest, a competition.^[2][5][7]
4. (law) A contest at law; with the genitive of the penalty, a contest before the people over a fine.^[2][5]

Related words

• certamen
• certatim
• certus

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 l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e 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 g h i j k l m n o Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de