depictio

Forms

dēpictiō f (genitive dēpictiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēpingō (“to paint, depict”) + -tiō.^[1][2][3] The verb is formed from dē- and pingō (“to colour, paint”),^[4][5] which goes back to Proto-Italic *ping-e/o- (“to paint”) and Proto-Indo-European *pi-n-ḱ- (“to paint, adorn”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Boethius, dated by Köbler to the first quarter of the 6th century AD, who in his commentary on Porphyry calls a description a sort of “depiction” of a thing in colours.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

Besides a portrayal or delineation, the word served as a technical term of rhetoric, a translation of Greek characterismus, the portrayal of a character in words.^[7][2][8] In medieval texts it meant the making of a sign (of the cross), the pressing of a seal, and a painting or picture;^[9] British and Hungarian accounts use it for the painting of images and walls.^[10][11] English took depiction from French in the 1680s.^[5]

Timeline

• early 6th century AD – Boethius uses it for a portrayal.^[2][3]
• 1174–1180 – A Weihenstephan record uses it of pressing something on a document.^[9]
• 1509 – A Hungarian account pays a painter for the painting of a church clock's corner.^[11]
• 1680s – English borrows depiction through French.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A depiction, delineation, description.^[7][8][6]
2. (rhetoric) A characterization, the portrayal of a person in words.^[7][2][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) The making of a sign, as of the cross.^[9]
4. (Medieval Latin) The pressing on (of a seal or mark).^[9]
5. (Medieval Latin) Painting; a picture.^[9][10][11]

Related words

• English depiction

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b 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
11. ^ a b c Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE