delatio

Forms

dēlātiō f (genitive dēlātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēferō (“to bring down; to report, denounce”) + -tiō, from the participle stem ⟨dēlāt-⟩.^[2][1][3] De Vaan explains the participle lātus of ferō as continuing an old participle of the root of tollō, Proto-Italic *tlāto-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD and Köbler find it first in Cicero,^[2][5] who in the speech against Caecilius discusses a contest over who should be given the right to prosecute.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a denunciation or accusation, the laying of a charge: dēlātiōnem dare is to grant someone the right to act as prosecutor, and dēlātiō nōminis the lodging of a name for prosecution.^[2][6] Tacitus and Curtius use it of informing against people.^[6][2] In law it is also the tendering of an oath, as in Ulpian.^[2] Glosses explain it as a report or betrayal;^[3] Servius glosses indicium with it and Macrobius equates it with Ancient Greek διαβολή (diabolḗ, “slander”).^[3] Wiktionary adds the sense of carrying, conveyance.^[1] Church Latin glosses it denunciation.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the right to prosecute.^[2][6][5]
• 1st century AD – Curtius of an accusation.^[2][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of informing.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A denunciation, accusation;^[2][6][1][7] dēlātiōnem dare, to grant the right to prosecute.^[2][6][1][7]
2. (law) The tendering of an oath.^[2]
3. A carrying, conveyance.^[1]

Related words

• dēferō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson