Etymologically
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delictum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [deːˈlɪk.tũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [deˈlik.tum][1]

Forms

dēlictum n (genitive dēlictī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is the neuter past participle of dēlinquō (“to fall short, offend”), used as a noun.[2][1][3] The verb is dē- and linquō (“to leave”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *linkʷe/o- and the nasal present Proto-Indo-European *li-n-kʷ- of *leykʷ- (“to leave”); it is cognate with Ancient Greek λείπω (leípō, “to leave”) and Sanskrit रिणक्ति (riṇákti, “leaves”).[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler give Plautus as its first author;[4][5] in the Amphitruo Mercury says a god should not let a mortal pay for his own fault (dēlictum suom).[6]

Semantic evolution

It is a failure to meet a standard of conduct, a fault or offence, from a slight one to a crime: Caesar's greater offence, Cicero's “the greater the crime, the slower the punishment”, and Sallust's senate afraid of the people out of a guilty conscience.[2][6] Horace and Ovid also use it of a defect in a thing, such as a fault in a poem.[2]

In the Vulgate it is a sin, and hostia prō dēlictō is the trespass offering;[6] Church and medieval Latin use it for sin.[7][8] English delict (1520s) is an offence in civil law.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a fault.[6][4][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of crimes and their punishment.[6][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of a fault in a poem.[2][5]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate of sin and the trespass offering.[6][5]
  • 1520s – English delict.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A misdeed, offence, fault, crime.[2][1][6]
  2. A defect (in a thing).[2]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A sin; a trespass.[7][8][6]

Usage notes

Döderlein and Lewis and Short set dēlictum, a lighter offence against positive law, from carelessness, beside peccātum, an offence against the laws of nature and reason, from want of judgment.[9][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper