Etymologically
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dialecticus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [di.aˈɫɛk.tɪ.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [di.aˈlɛk.ti.kus][1]

Forms

dialecticus (feminine dialectica, neuter dialecticum); first/second-declension adjective[1] The adverb is dialecticē.[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek διαλεκτικός (dialektikós, “dialectical”).[3][1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[4] who writes that dialecticians examine every statement to judge whether it is true or false.[3]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it means related to reasoning, logical, dialectical, especially of the method of the Academy;[3] Cicero has dialectical quibbles, captiōnēs dialecticae, and Quintilian dialectical disputations.[2] As a masculine noun it is a logician or dialectician, also an Academic philosopher.[3] The feminine dialectica is the art of reasoning, logic: Varro, quoted by Isidore, contrasts it with rhetoric, the one compressing words and the other expanding them.[3] Cicero uses the adverb dialecticē of arguing in the manner of the logicians.[2]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro, of dialectic beside rhetoric.[3][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of logicians and dialectical quibbles.[3][2][4]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian, of dialectical disputations.[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Related to reasoning, logical, dialectical;[3][2][1] of creatures, having reasoning power.[3]

Noun

  1. A logician, dialectician;[3][1] an Academic philosopher.[3]
  • dialectica
  • dialectos

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de