exactus

Forms

exāctus (feminine exācta, neuter exāctum, comparative exāctior, superlative exāctissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the perfect participle from Latin exigō (“to drive out; to weigh, examine”).^[1][3][2] That verb is ex- with agō (“to drive”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *ag-e/o- (“to do, act”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive, lead”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates the adjective from Ovid,^[5] who finds it hard to say whether someone was more exact in morals or in his craft.^[2] Livy uses it of an exact number.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Weighed carefully, it means exact, precise, accurate: Livy finds it hard to state the number of fighters exactly, and Suetonius has someone take more than usual care.^[6] Of persons it is scrupulous, as the Elder Seneca's most exact talent and the Younger Pliny's most upright man.^[2][6] Church Latin glosses it precise, exact, accurate, sharp.^[7] Italian esatto continues it.^[6]

Timeline

• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of an exact number.^[6][2]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of exacting care.^[6][2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Exact, precise, accurate.^[1][2][6][7]
2. (of persons) Scrupulous, exacting; upright.^[1][6]

Related words

• exigō
• agō

Usage notes

The OLD has two rare nouns of the same spelling: exāctus, -ūs, disposal by sale, in the pseudo-Quintilian Declamations,^[1][2] and exāctus, -ī, apparently a military record clerk, which Mommsen took from ex āctīs “from the records”.^[1][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 c d e f g h Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften