definitivus

Forms

dēfīnītīvus (feminine dēfīnītīva, neuter dēfīnītīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēfīniō (“to define, limit”) + -īvus,^[2][1] formed on the participle stem of the verb, dēfīnītus.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero is the first to use it, in the rhetorical work De inventione: when a dispute turns on a name, “because the force of the word must be defined in words”, the issue is called constitutio definitiva.^[3][5][6] He uses it again of a causa in the Topica.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed a technical term.^[3][5] Rhetoricians after Cicero kept it for the issue of definition,^[3] and the grammarians made modus definitivus a name of the indicative mood, after the Greek;^[3][7] Priscian writes indicativus sive definitivus, “the indicative or definitive”, the mood “by which we state or define what is done”.^[3][7] In Late Latin law sententia definitiva was the final, decisive judgment of a case,^[5][8][9] and Tertullian used the word simply for “definite, limited”.^[5][9]

Medieval Latin kept both lines: philosophers used it for what defines or determines a thing,^[10] and the sententia definitiva of the courts runs through the medieval records,^[10][11] often spelled diffinitivus.^[10][11] English took definitive from Old French definitif in the late 14th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the issue of definition in rhetoric.^[3][5][6]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it for “definite”, and the adverb definitive for “plainly”.^[5][9][6]
• 438 AD – The Theodosian Code speaks of a definitiva verdict.^[7][6]
• 1st half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius' grammatical excerpts call the indicative modus definitivus.^[3][7][6]
• 6th century AD – Priscian equates definitivus with indicativus.^[3][6]
• 11th century – Peter Damian calls the words of Innocent “definitive and clear”.^[10][6]
• 1221 – An English record mentions a bishopric awarded “by definitive sentence”.^[11]
• late 14th century – English borrows definitive through Old French.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (rhetoric) Concerned with or containing a definition: constitutio definitiva, the issue of definition.^[2][5][3]
2. (Late Latin, grammar) Indicative: modus definitivus, the indicative mood.^[3][7]
3. (Late Latin, law) Decisive, final: sententia definitiva, a final judgment.^[5][8][9][7]
4. (Late Latin) Definite, limited, distinct.^[5][8][9]
5. (Medieval Latin, philosophy) Defining, determining.^[10][11]

Related words

• dēfīnītiō
• English definitive

Usage notes

The adverb is dēfīnītīvē, “definitively, distinctly”, found in Tertullian and Caelius Aurelianus.^[5] Medieval texts often write diffinitivus.^[10][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
10. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ a b c d e 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