distractio

Forms

distractiō f (genitive distractiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin distrahō (“to drag apart”) + -tiō, formed on the stem of the supine ⟨distractum⟩.^[2][3][1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Plautus on.^[5][6] In the Pseudolus a young lover laments that the separation from his pleasures has come upon him: harunc voluptatum mi omnium … distractio, discidium, vastities venit.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the literal sense it is a tearing apart: Seneca writes of the moment when soul and body are torn from each other, and Gellius of the tearing of limbs.^[2][3] Cicero uses it of the parting of minds, and in the De officiis says that there is no fellowship with tyrants, rather the greatest separation.^[5] It came to mean estrangement and discord, as in a fragment that Nonius quotes on the discord of citizens,^[2][5] and in the jurists the selling off of property.^[2][7]

The sense of a mind pulled in many directions appears in Christian writers such as Vincent of Lérins.^[5] Medieval writers kept the old senses of tearing apart and separation, and added squandering and sale;^[8][7] in Matthew Paris it is the dragging of a criminal to execution.^[9] English distraction (mid-15th century) is from the Latin.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a lover's separation from his pleasures.^[5][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the parting of minds.^[5][6]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of soul and body torn apart.^[2][6]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of selling off property.^[2][6]
• 1st half of the 5th century AD – Vincent of Lérins uses it of distraction of the mind.^[5][6]
• mid-15th century – English distraction is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tearing apart, separation, severance.^[2][3][5]
2. Estrangement, discord.^[2][5]
3. (law) Disposal by sale.^[2][7]
4. (Late Latin) distraction of the mind.^[5][1]
5. (Medieval Latin) The dragging of a criminal to execution.^[9]

Related words

• traho
• English distraction

References

1. ^ a b c 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 c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b 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