discepto

Forms

disceptō (present infinitive disceptāre, perfect active disceptāvī, supine disceptātum); first conjugation^[1] A deponent form disceptor is also found.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- (“apart”) + captō (“to grasp at”), a frequentative of capiō (“to take, seize”).^[3][2] Lewis & Short explained it as a legal term, literally to seize and separate the parties, and so to settle a dispute.^[4] De Vaan traces capiō to Proto-Italic *kap-i- and to Proto-Indo-European *kh₂p-i- (“to seize”) or a non-Indo-European source, comparing Ancient Greek κάπτω (káptō, “to gulp down”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest examples are in Cicero, who notes that disputants must agree on what the point at issue is.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is to dispute, debate or argue, at law or in general.^[3][1] It is also to act as judge or arbitrator and, transitively, to decide a dispute, as in Cicero's Pro Milone, of the man put in charge of a court to judge these matters justly.^[3][4] Lewis & Short call it good prose but rare.^[4] Church Latin glosses it to dispute, discuss, determine or judge.^[6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of debating and of judging a case.^[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To dispute, debate, argue, at law or in general.^[3][4][6][1]
2. To act as judge, arbitrate.^[3][1]
3. To judge, decide a dispute.^[3][4][1]

Word family

• disceptātiō
• disceptātor
• disceptātrix

Related words

• captō
• capiō

References

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