concessivus

Forms

concessīvus (feminine concessīva, neuter concessīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin concēdō (“to yield, grant”) + -īvus, formed on the participle stem ⟨concess-⟩ of the verb.^[3][1][4] Conte calls it a Late Latin word.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first author is the grammarian Marius Victorinus, who gives it as the name of a mood, with the example ut lēgerim, “granted that I have read”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

It was a technical word of the grammarians and rhetoricians.^[1][6][7] Donatus, commenting on Terence, says that every point of a defence rests on the concessive “quality”;^[3][7] Diomedes lists a concessive species among the kinds of verbs.^[3][7][5] Servius, on a line of the Aeneid, calls a construction concessive following Probus, and explains it as used when, tired of arguing, we seem to grant what we do not want to happen.^[3][1] Isidore of Seville calls concessīvae those sentences that forbid while seeming to urge, and quotes Virgil's ī, sequere Ītaliam, “go, make for Italy”.^[3][7]

Medieval writers used it more widely, of words that grant or concede something and of curses worded as permissions,^[8] and also in a passive sense, “allowed”: Rather of Verona calls a kind of marriage pardonable and allowed.^[8] A British source has a purgātiō concessīva, a defence that admits the fact.^[9] In Hungary it meant “permitting”.^[10] It is the source of Italian concessivo,^[5] and English concessive came from it in the 1640s.^[4]

Timeline

• first half of the 4th century AD – Marius Victorinus names a concessive mood.^[3][2]
• c. 310–380 AD – Donatus speaks of a concessive quality in a defence.^[3][2]
• second half of the 4th century AD – Diomedes lists a concessive kind of verb.^[3][1][2]
• c. 400 AD – Servius explains a concessive construction in the Aeneid.^[3][1][2]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville defines concessive sentences.^[3][7][2]
• 1366 – A Hungarian charter uses it in the sense “permitting”.^[10]
• 1640s – English concessive is borrowed.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Late Latin, grammar, rhetoric) Concessive, expressing a concession.^[1][6][7][3]
2. (Medieval Latin) Granting, conceding; worded as a permission.^[8][10]
3. (Medieval Latin) Allowed, permitted.^[8]
4. (Medieval Latin, law) Admitting the fact (of a defence).^[9]

Related words

• concessiō
• English concessive

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE