excerptum

Forms

excerptum n (genitive excerptī); second declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin excerpō (“to pick out, select”), the neuter of its past participle used as a noun.^[1][3][4] The verb is formed from ex- and carpō (“to pluck”),^[1] which goes back to Proto-Italic *karp- and Proto-Indo-European *kerp-e/o- (“to pick, pluck”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Seneca has it in his letters, and Quintilian uses it too, for an extract or a chosen passage.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The OLD treats it as a synonym of excerptiō.^[1] Fronto speaks of Lucretii aut Enni excerpta, “extracts from Lucretius or Ennius”.^[4] Köbler lists Jerome among its sources,^[6] and in the 4th century it appears in Symmachus and Macrobius.^[7][2]

Timeline

• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it in his letters.^[2]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it.^[2]
• 100–170 AD – Fronto writes of extracts from Lucretius or Ennius.^[4]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. An extract, a selected passage (from a written work).^[1][2][4][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ a b Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften