commenticius

Forms

commentīcius (feminine commentīcia, neuter commentīcium); first/second-declension adjective^[1] It is also spelled commentītius.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin commentus (“devised”) + -īcius, from the participle of comminīscor (“to devise, invent”).^[1][4][2] That verb is a compound of con- and ⟨miniscor⟩, related to meminī.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero,^[3] in whose works it is most frequent;^[2] he uses it of a fabricated charge (crimen commenticium) and of Plato's imaginary state.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Its senses run from “devised for a particular purpose”, as Cicero says of the swerve of the atoms, to “fabricated, fictitious” and “imaginary”, as of invented and fictitious gods.^[4][2] Suetonius uses it of newly devised shows as opposed to the traditional ones, Gellius of contrived frauds, and the jurists of a rule that rests on legal construction.^[4][2][5][3]

In medieval Latin it kept the senses “devised” and “false”, and the neuter was used as a noun for a fiction or lie: Aldhelm speaks of refuting the philosophers' fabrications.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a fabricated charge, of Plato's imaginary state and of fictitious gods.^[4][2][3]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of newly devised shows.^[4][3]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of contrived frauds.^[2][3]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses the neuter plural for the philosophers' fabrications.^[6][3]
• 1007 – A letter from Mainz speaks of syllogisms that are not invented.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Invented or devised for a particular purpose, special, improvised.^[4]
2. Fabricated, fictitious, false.^[4][2]
3. Based on the imagination, imaginary, fanciful.^[4][2]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin, neuter) A fiction, fabrication, lie.^[6][7]

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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ 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