Etymologically
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distractio

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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]

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