emancipatio

Forms

ēmancipātiō f (genitive ēmancipātiōnis); third declension^[1] L&S also gives the spelling ēmancupātiō.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ēmancipō + -tiō.^[3][1][4] ēmancipō is made of ex- and mancipō (“to transfer by sale”), from manceps (“purchaser”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Quintilian (c. 35–95/96 AD),^[3][5] as a legal term for the formal release of a son from the authority of his father (patria potestas): he knows of lawsuits between fathers and sons after an emancipation.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Gaius and Ulpian describe the procedure, carried out by a threefold sale (mancipatio) and manumission.^[2][7] Pliny the Younger uses it for the conveyance of property to another person.^[3][6]

In medieval Latin it meant a manumission or release, also of property and of persons freed from a jurisdiction.^[8] Ælfric glosses it with Old English “freedom”.^[9] English borrowed it as emancipation in the 1630s, through French.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it for the release of a son from his father's authority.^[3][5]
• 140–180 AD – Gaius describes emancipation in his Institutes.^[2][5]
• 1218 – A charter from Italy uses it for a manumission.^[8]
• 1630s – English borrows it, through French, as emancipation.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) The formal release of a son from the patria potestas; emancipation.^[3][2]
2. (law) The transfer of property to another, conveyance.^[3][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A manumission, release; the freeing of persons or property from a jurisdiction.^[8][9]

Related words

• English emancipation

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c 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
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com