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cunctatio

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word cunctatio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*ḱonk-(e)ie-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kuːŋkˈtaː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kuŋkˈtat.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

cūnctātiō f (genitive cūnctātiōnis); third declension[1] It is also spelled with cont-,[2] and a papyrus has conctātiōnis.[3]

Etymology

It is formed from cūnctor (“to delay, hesitate”) with the suffix -tiō.[4][3][1] De Vaan derives the verb from Proto-Italic *konkito- (“hanging”) and Proto-Indo-European *ḱonk-(e)ie- (“to hang”).[5] Cognate with Hittite kānk- (“to hang, weigh”), Sanskrit शङ्कते (śáṅkate, “fears”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (hāhan, “to leave in uncertainty”) and Old English hōn (“to hang”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Cicero as its first author,[6] who says in the Laelius “let zeal be always there, let hesitation be absent”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is hesitation, delay, tardiness or inactivity, and with a genitive or dē the delaying of something, as Cicero's sine cunctātiōne, without hesitation, and the slowness by which good men lose their leisure and standing.[4][2] Lewis and Short find it used in a good and more often in a bad sense, of the subjective hesitation, while mora is the objective delay;[2] Tacitus opposes it to rashness and calls it nearer to steadfastness.[2]

Köbler finds it in the Bible and in the Burgundian and Visigothic law codes.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: studium semper adsit, cunctātiō absit.[2][6]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of the Sabini's hesitation.[2][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus opposes it to rashness.[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Hesitation, delaying, tardiness; inactivity;[4][2][1] sine cunctātiōne, without hesitation.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Cunctatio.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/cunctatio. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·