commutatio

Forms

commūtātiō f (genitive commūtātiōnis); third declension^[1] One manuscript of the Old Latin Gospels has the spelling commotatio.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin commūtō (“to change, exchange”) + -tiō.^[3][2][1] The verb is com- with mūtō (“to change”), which de Vaan, like mūtuus (“borrowed, mutual”), derives from a nominal stem Proto-Italic *moito- (“object of exchange”); its PIE source is either a root Proto-Indo-European *mith₂- (“to exchange”) or a different root seen in mūnus (“duty, gift”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Accius,^[4] in whose historical play an omen “foretold a change of things”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is a change in general: a physical change or turning, as Cicero speaks of the changes of the tides in a strait, a change of arrangement or of grammatical form, and a progressive alteration.^[3][5] Most often it is a change or reversal of circumstances, an upheaval, with rerum or temporum.^[3][5] In rhetoric the Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it for the figure that reverses an expression: “one must eat to live, not live to eat”.^[3] It also means an exchange or substitution, as of prisoners in Florus.^[3]

In Church Latin it means change, exchange, barter or sale.^[6] In medieval Latin it is a contract of exchange, the charter recording one, or property acquired by exchange.^[7] English borrowed commutation through Old French in the mid-15th century.^[8]

Timeline

• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of a change of fortune.^[3][4][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the changes of the tides.^[3][9]
• c. 120 AD – Florus of an exchange of prisoners.^[3][9]
• mid-15th century – Borrowed into English as commutation.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A physical change, reversal, turning; a change of arrangement, form or style.^[3][5]
2. A progressive alteration.^[3]
3. A change, reversal or upheaval in circumstances.^[3][5][1]
4. (rhetoric) The reversal of an expression.^[3]
5. An exchange, substitution; an interchange.^[3][6][1]
6. (Medieval Latin) A contract of exchange; the charter recording it; property acquired by exchange.^[7]

Related words

• mūtō
• mūtātiō
• English commutation

References

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