denuntiatio

Forms

dēnūntiātiō f (genitive dēnūntiātiōnis); third declension^[1] It is also spelled dēnunciātiō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēnūntiō (“to announce”) + -tiō.^[4][5] dēnūntiō is built on nūntius (“messenger”), whose further etymology de Vaan calls unclear.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero.^[7] In the OLD's quotation from De oratore he says that one can make a judge attentive through the whole speech, not by the first announcement.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is the making known of what is to happen, an announcement: Cicero asks what kind of announcement of disasters this is that comes from the gods.^[4][2] It is also a warning or threat, as in a dream in Velleius, and ⟨dēnūntiātiō bellī⟩ is a declaration of war: Cicero says that something is not an embassy but a declaration of war.^[4] It is an injunction: Cicero has a meeting held on Catiline's order.^[4] In law it is a summons or formal notice, as in Papinian.^[4] Paul the Deacon's Festus explains ⟨condictiō⟩ as a ⟨dēnūntiātiō⟩.^[5] It is also a denunciation: Suetonius has Gallus driven to his death by the denunciations of accusers.^[4] Niermeyer records the medieval senses order, summons and prohibition.^[8] Church Latin glosses it denunciation, prohibition, announcement, publication.^[3]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of an announcement and a declaration of war.^[4][7]
• c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius of a warning in a dream.^[4][7]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of denunciations.^[4][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. An announcement, notification; a warning, threat;^[4][2][1][3] dēnūntiātiō bellī, a declaration of war.^[4][2][1][3]
2. An injunction, admonition;^[4][1][8] (law) a summons.^[4][1][8]
3. A denunciation, accusation.^[4][3]
4. (Medieval Latin) An order; a prohibition.^[8][3]

Related words

• dēnūntiō
• nūntius

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill