dilatio

Forms

dīlātiō f (genitive dīlātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin differō (“to put off”) + -tiō, formed on the participle dīlātus.^[2][1][3] The participle lātus (“carried”) of ferō goes back, in de Vaan's account, to Proto-Italic *tlāto- and Proto-Indo-European *tlh₂-to- (“lifted”), from the root of tollō (“to lift”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero, who speaks of putting off time and of postponing elections.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a putting off, a delay: Livy speaks of a war waged softly and by delays.^[2][6] In law it is an adjournment, and an inscription calls it humane to grant one for producing proof.^[2] Apuleius uses it of an interval in space.^[2] The TLL records the plural in Caelius, Livy, Velleius, Seneca and Pliny the Elder.^[3] The early medieval law codes use it, and Church Latin glosses it delay.^[5][7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of postponing elections.^[6][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a war waged by delays.^[2][5]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius of an interval in space.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A postponement, delay, putting off.^[2][6][7][1]
2. (law) An adjournment.^[2][1]
3. An interval of space.^[2]

Related words

• differō

Usage notes

A noun dīlātiō formed from dīlātō, "to widen", appears in councils and charters.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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 f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d 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