emptio

Forms

ēmptiō f (genitive ēmptiōnis); third declension^[1] It is also spelled emtio.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin emō (“to buy”) + -tiō, formed on the participle stem ⟨empt-⟩.^[3][1][4] De Vaan traces emō, first “to take”, to Proto-Italic *eme/o- (“to take”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁em- (“to take”).^[5] Cognate with Oscan emmens (“they have bought”), Old Irish ar·foím (“to receive”) and Lithuanian im̃ti (“to take”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[6] who in the Pro Roscio Amerino calls a purchase of goods scandalous.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It means the act of buying, a purchase, and by extension the thing bought, as when Cicero writes that he wants none of those purchases.^[3][2] In law it is the contract of purchase: Gaius and Justinian's Institutes treat emptio et venditio, purchase and sale, and the jurist Scaevola uses it of a deed of purchase.^[2][3]

Church Latin keeps purchase or buying.^[7] In medieval Latin it can mean the thing bought, or the fee paid when a holding changed hands.^[8] English borrowed emption in the late 15th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a purchase and of things bought.^[3][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it in his book on farming.^[2][6]
• 140–180 AD – Gaius on the contract of purchase.^[2][6]
• late 15th century – Borrowed into English as emption.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of buying, a purchase.^[3][2][7][1]
2. The thing bought.^[3][8][1]
3. (law) A deed of purchase; the contract of purchase.^[3][2][1]
4. (Medieval Latin) The fee due on the transfer of a holding, relief.^[8]

Word family

• coēmptiō
• coēmptiōnālis

Related words

• emō
• ēmptor

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill