dispendium

Forms

dispendium n (genitive dispendiī or dispendī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dispendō (“to weigh out, distribute”) + -ium,^[2][1] the opposite of compendium “saving”.^[3][4] Varro explained the word by the loss that happens in weighing out,^[3][4] and Festus connected it with dispēnsātor “steward”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example of the sense “expense, cost” is from Plautus' Menaechmi: minōre nusquam bene fuī dispendiō, “nowhere have I dined well at less cost”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short note that it is mostly found before and after the Classical period.^[3] Besides expense it meant the loss a transaction causes: Ennius says the earth takes back the body it gave and loses not a whit (neque dispendī facit hīlum), and Terence pairs it with sūmptus.^[2][3][5] Columella speaks of a great loss to the owner, and Ovid of the loss of hair.^[3]

Poets extended it to time and distance: Virgil's morae dispendia are the losses of delay, Manilius and Lucan use it of a detour, and Martial of long roundabout journeys.^[2][3][6][5] Apuleius uses the plural for the waning of the moon.^[2][6] In the Church it meant expense,^[7] and medieval Latin used it for loss and for expenditure;^[8] British writers spoke of the loss of chastity, of peace or of souls.^[9] It survives in Italian dispendio.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the cost of a dinner.^[2][3][10]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of loss.^[2][10]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil speaks of the loss caused by delay.^[3][6][10]
• 1st century AD – Manilius uses it of a detour.^[2][10]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of the waning moon.^[2][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Expense, cost.^[2][3]
2. Loss, detriment;^[2][3][6] (plural) the waning (of the moon).^[2][3][6]
3. A loss of time or distance; a detour, a roundabout way.^[2][3][5]

Word family

• dispendiōsus

Usage notes

Morae dispendia, “losses of delay”, comes from the Aeneid (3.453).^[3][5] Lewis and Short list impēnsa, impendium and sūmptus as near-synonyms for expense, and damnum, dētrīmentum and iactūra for loss.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de