Etymologically
Log in

dissolutio

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 13:23. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

dissolūtiō f (genitive dissolūtiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dissolvō (“to break up, dissolve”) + -tiō.[2][3][1][4] dissolvō is a compound of dis- and solvō (“to loosen”),[5] which de Vaan explains as a compound of ⟨*se-⟩ “away” and luō (“to loosen”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL dates it from the Rhetorica ad Herennium,[3] which uses it of the refutation of an argument.[2] Köbler dates it from Cicero.[6]

Semantic evolution

It is the process of breaking up or disintegration: Cicero calls death a dissolution in which all sensation is extinguished,[2] and Tacitus has the breaking up of a ship.[7] Seneca uses it of a loss of strength, “not rest but dissolution and languor”, and Pliny the Elder has dissolūtiō stomachī, looseness of the bowels.[2][7] It also means a loss of moral strength, slackness, and the collapse of institutions, as of the law courts in Cicero.[2] In rhetoric it is the lack of connecting words, asyndeton, and the refutation of an argument.[2][1] Church Latin has it as destruction, breaking down, dissolution,[8] and medieval texts as profligacy and death.[9] English dissolution (mid-14th century) first meant moral laxness; the sense “separation into parts” dates from the late 14th century.[4]

Timeline

  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium, of refutation.[2][3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of death and of the collapse of the courts.[2][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of languor.[2][6]
  • mid-14th century – English dissolution.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A breaking up, disintegration, dissolution;[2][7][1] death.[2][9]
  2. A loss of strength;[2][7] dissolūtiō stomachī, looseness of the bowels.[2][7]
  3. A loss of moral strength, slackness;[2] (Medieval Latin) profligacy.[9]
  4. A collapse, abolition.[2][7][1]
  5. (rhetoric) Asyndeton;[2][1] refutation.[2][1]

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 i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c 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 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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill