Etymologically
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descriptio

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [deːsˈkriːp.ti.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [desˈkrip.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

dēscrīptiō f (genitive dēscrīptiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēscrībō (“to write down, describe”) + -tiō.[2][1][3] Dēscrībō is from dē- and scrībō “to write”.[4] Manuscripts and editions often confuse it with discrīptiō “distribution”.[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Rhetorica ad Herennium and Cicero use it as a rhetorical term for a vivid description.[5][2] Köbler dates the Rhetorica ad Herennium 86/82 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

Its literal senses were a drawing, diagram or plan, as Cicero's mathematical figures and Vitruvius' maps of the world, and a copy or transcript, as of account books in the Verrines.[2][5][7] Lewis & Short note that Cicero used it often, and that the figurative sense, a representation or description in words, was far more frequent, as of places and regions in Quintilian.[5]

It also meant an orderly arrangement, of a speech, a building, the legions or the classes of citizens.[5] The Vulgate uses it of a census of the people, and in medieval Latin it meant a census for taxation and a register of the fiscs and benefices of a kingdom.[5][8] English description came from Old French and Latin in the late 14th century.[4]

Timeline

  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it of description.[5][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of diagrams and descriptions.[2][6]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of maps.[5][6]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of a census.[5][6]
  • late 14th century – English description is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A drawing, diagram, plan, map.[2][1]
  2. A copy, transcript.[9][1]
  3. (rhetoric) A description.[2][1]
  4. An arrangement, order.[5]
  5. criminis descriptio, an indictment.[2]
  6. (Late and Medieval Latin) A census; a register.[5][8]

Word family

  • descriptiuncula

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn