exclusio

Forms

exclūsiō f (genitive exclūsiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin exclūdō + -tiō.^[2][3] The verb is formed from ex- and claudō (“to shut”).^[3] For that verb de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *klaud-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u-d- (“to shut”), though he allows that it may instead be derived from the stem of clāvis (“key”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Terence has it in the Eunuch, of a person being shut out: de exclusione verbum nullum, “not a word about the shutting out”.^[4][5][3]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it very rare and note that it is not in Cicero.^[4] Vitruvius uses it of keeping out the winds,^[4][5] and in law Ulpian describes an exceptio as a kind of exclusion, a debarring.^[4][6][2]

Medieval Latin used it widely: for exclusion in general, for an exception, for exclusion from the Church and for banishment.^[7] British documents use it for the keeping out of water.^[8] Köbler also records a medieval sense “sluice”.^[9] English borrowed it about 1400 as exclusion.^[10]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a person shut out.^[4][9]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of keeping out the winds.^[4][5]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it in a legal definition.^[4][6]
• 1362 – An English patent roll uses it of keeping out seawater.^[8]
• c. 1400 – English borrows it as exclusion.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The shutting out of a person, exclusion.^[2][4][5]
2. The keeping out of something (such as wind).^[4][5]
3. (law) A Debarring; an exception.^[2][6]
4. (Medieval Latin) Exclusion from the Church; banishment.^[7]
5. (Medieval Latin) A sluice.^[9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com