conclusivus

Forms

conclūsīvus (feminine conclūsīva, neuter conclūsīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin conclūdō (“to shut up; to conclude”), formed on its past participle conclūsus with the suffix -īvus.^[3][2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the rhetorician Sulpicius Victor, who speaks of a “conclusive quality” in the doctrine of the issues of a case.^[3][1]

Semantic evolution

Late Latin also used it of a “conclusive” collection or summary,^[3] and Cassiodorus has the adverb conclusive, “in conclusion”.^[3] In Medieval Latin it meant “concluding, summarizing”: a treatise on letter-writing names a “conclusive” mark of punctuation, and other writers speak of conclusive arguments, “proving conclusively”.^[5][6] In legal use a finis conclusivus was a final decision of a case, as in 15th-century Hungarian documents,^[7] and a “conclusive” writing closed the exchange of pleadings.^[8] English conclusive (1610s) came from it through French conclusif.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses the adverb conclusive.^[3][2]
• 1417 – A Hungarian charter speaks of ending a case “with a conclusive end”.^[7]
• 1610s – Borrowed into English, through French, as conclusive.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Late Latin, rhetoric) final, concluding.^[3][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) Concluding, summarizing.^[5][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) Proving firmly; conclusive.^[5][6]
4. (Medieval Latin, law) Final, definitive, ending a case.^[7][8]

References

1. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
2. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e f 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 Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c 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
7. ^ a b c Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
8. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl