contradictorius

Forms

contrādictōrius (feminine contrādictōria, neuter contrādictōrium); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin contrādictor + -ius,^[2] from contrādīcō (“to speak against”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A law of 400 AD, collected in the Theodosian Code, speaks of written objections (contradictorii libelli).^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it meant containing an objection or contradiction: a counter-pleading, or a polemical book.^[5][4] Boethius made it a term of logic, for the contradictory opposition of propositions,^[2][6] the sense the scholastics kept: Thomas Aquinas uses it for simply denying what another affirms, or affirming what another denies.^[7]

Medieval law used it for the opposing party, for the refractory, and for a love of litigation;^[8] as a feminine noun, contradictoria was a defiance, the announcement of a feud.^[9] In logic the noun meant a contradictory proposition.^[10] English borrowed it as contradictory,^[11] and Italian contraddittorio continues it.^[6]

Timeline

• 400 AD – A law later collected in the Theodosian Code speaks of contradictorii libelli.^[2]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus calls certain books contradictorii.^[2][4][3]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus, in the Tripartite History, names a book against tempting demons liber contradictorius.^[5][2][3]
• 1530s – English borrows it as contradictory.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Containing an objection or contradiction; polemical.^[5][4]
2. (logic) Contradictory.^[2][10][7]
3. (Medieval Latin, law) Of the opposing party, adverse.^[8]
4. (Medieval Latin) Refractory, contumacious.^[8]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) As feminine contradictoria: a defiance, the announcement of a feud.^[9]
2. (Medieval Latin, logic) A contradictory proposition.^[10]

Related words

• English contradictory

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
8. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com