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criminalis

Etymology and origin of the Latin word criminalis

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
Scaevola
Ultimate origin
Latin (crīmen)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin criminalis
English criminal

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [kriː.mɪˈnaː.lɪs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [kri.miˈnaː.lis][1]

Forms

crīminālis (neuter crīmināle); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin crīmen (“charge, crime”) + -ālis.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The jurist Scaevola, quoted in the Digest, contrasts an inquiry in a civil matter with one in a criminal matter.[3] It is a word of the legal writers.[4]

Semantic evolution

It was a word of the jurists: criminal as opposed to civil, of cases and accusations, and the adverb crīminaliter “by criminal process”.[2][4][5] The Theodosian Code and the Code of Justinian use it of criminal cases, and Sidonius and the Burgundian law also have it.[3][4]

In medieval Latin it was used of criminal law and penalties, of capital offences, and in Christian Latin of mortal sin.[6][7][8] English criminal is recorded about 1400 as “sinful” and in the legal sense from the mid-15th century.[9]

Timeline

  • 315 AD – A law of 315 in the Theodosian Code uses it.[3]
  • c. 1400 – English criminal is recorded.[9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (law) criminal, as opposed to civil.[2][1]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Capital; punishable.[7][8]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Mortally sinful.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com

Descendants

Cite this entry

“Criminalis.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/criminalis. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·