confiscatio

Forms

cōnfiscātiō f (genitive cōnfiscātiōnis); third declension^[1] Medieval texts also spell it confiscacio.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin cōnfiscō (“to confiscate”) + -tiō.^[1][4][5] The verb goes back to fiscus (“treasury”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Florus, about AD 120, is the first to use it: he writes that the Roman people entrusted Cato with the confiscation of the goods of an allied king who was still alive.^[1][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Later it appears in Cassiodorus^[8] and in the Latin version of Justinian's Novels, where it renders a Greek legal term.^[6] Medieval law kept the sense of the seizure of goods by the treasury,^{[9][10][2][11]} and in feudal usage it also meant the grant of land as a fief, and by metonymy the fief itself.^[9][7]

English confiscation (1540s) came from it through French.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 120 AD – Florus uses it of the confiscation of a king's property.^[1][7]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it.^[8][7]
• end of the 12th century – It is used of the grant of land as a fief.^[7][9]
• 1525 – An ordinance from Sopron threatens offenders with the confiscation of their goods.^[2]
• 1540s – English borrows it, through French, as confiscation.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. confiscation, the seizure of a person's property by the treasury.^[1][12][9]
2. (Medieval Latin) The grant of land as a fief.^[9][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) A fief.^[9]

Related words

• confisco
• fiscus
• English confiscation

References

1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
3. ^ Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
12. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press