delegatus

Forms

dēlēgātus m (genitive dēlēgātūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a verbal noun of the fourth declension, from Latin dēlēgō (“to assign, delegate”) + -tus.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in inscriptions and in the jurist Ulpian (before 223 AD),^[2][4] who writes of a debtor paying a ward's creditor ex delegatu pupilli, on the ward's assignment.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The OLD treats it as an equivalent of dēlēgātiō,^[2] and the TLL glosses it as a commission or mandate: an inscription speaks of something done on the commission of the emperors (ex delegatu principum).^[3] Wiktionary gives it as the financial delegation of a payment to a third party.^[1]

Timeline

• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of the assignment of a debt.^[2][3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A commission or mandate.^[3]
2. (law) Delegation of a debt: the assignment of a payment to a third party.^[2][1]

Usage notes

Medieval Latin also used the participle as a noun of the second declension, dēlēgātus, -ī, “a delegate”, someone commissioned to act by a person with the power to do so;^[5][4] Köbler dates it to about 1200,^[4] and Du Cange has it for a delegated judge.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre