dominatus

Forms

dominātus m (genitive dominātūs); fourth declension^[1] Caesar, quoted by Gellius, has the dative dominātū.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin dominor (“to rule, be master”) + -tus.^[2][1][4] dominor comes from dominus (“master”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *dom-o/u-no- (“of the house”), from domus (“house”).^[5] He reports Pinault's reconstruction "one who profits from the house", compared with Sanskrit दमूनस् (dámūnas-, “lord of the house”), but notes that dominus can simply mean "he of the house".^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Afranius.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It is absolute rule or lordship: Cicero speaks of the man who freed this people from royal rule.^[2] Lewis & Short find it most frequent in Cicero.^[3] It is also power or control, as Varro says that naming things is in our power, while we are in nature's.^[2] Cicero also uses it of ownership.^[2] Church Latin glosses it rule, mastery, tyranny.^[7] In medieval documents, from 681 on, it is a lord's possession, his power over a vassal, and seigniorial authority or right.^[8][6]

Timeline

• 2nd half of the 2nd century BC – Afranius uses it.^[6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of power over naming.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of royal rule.^[2][6]
• 681 AD – a charter uses it.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Absolute rule, lordship, dominion; tyranny.^[2][3][7][1]
2. Power, control.^[2][1]
3. Ownership, possession.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) A seigniorial possession; a lord's authority over a vassal; seigniorial right.^[8]

Related words

• dominor
• dominātiō
• dominus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill