evictio

Forms

ēvictiō f (genitive ēvictiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ēvincō + -tiō, the noun of action of the verb meaning “to recover at law”.^[2][3] Wiktionary analyses it as the past participle ēvictus with the same suffix.^[1] The verb is formed from ex- and vincō (“to conquer”),^[2] which goes back to Proto-Italic *wink- and Proto-Indo-European *ui-n-k- (“to bend, tie”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a term of Roman law, used often in the Digest from the jurists Javolenus and Neratius on,^[3] and Köbler names Gaius among its first sources.^[5] It meant the recovery of a thing at law by its rightful owner from a buyer who had acquired it from someone who was not the owner.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In Classical law the seller was bound to answer for such a recovery: evictionem praestare meant to assure the buyer against it.^[2] The Code of Justinian has a whole title on evictions.^[6][7]

Medieval Latin kept the legal term for recovery or loss of property by judgment, and also used it for the seller's guarantee against such loss.^[8][9] In British documents it is the acquisition or recovery of land by legal process.^[10] English took it over in the 15th century as eviction, first meaning “recovery”; the sense of dispossession followed in the 1580s.^[11]

Timeline

• 140–180 AD – Gaius uses the legal term.^[5]
• 194 AD – A rescript preserved in the Code of Justinian speaks of the risk of eviction.^[3]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it, from French and Late Latin, as eviction.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) The recovery of property at law by someone with a better title, taking it from a buyer.^[2][6][3]
2. (law) In evictionem praestare: to give a purchaser a guarantee against such recovery.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) A warranty against eviction.^[8][9]
4. (Medieval Latin) Eviction, the acquisition or recovery of land by legal process.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com