excommunicatio

Forms

excommūnicātiō f (genitive excommūnicātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin excommūnicō + -tiō.^[2][3] The verb is formed from ex- and commūnicō (“to share, have communion”).^[1] De Vaan puts commūnis (“common”) with mūnus (“duty, gift”), from Proto-Italic *moini-, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₂moi-ni- (“exchange”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a Christian word,^[2] found first in Jerome, who uses it in his translation of Origen's homilies on Jeremiah and in his books against Rufinus, for exclusion from the communion of the Church.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The TLL defines it as exclusion from the communion of the Church, above all from the sacrament of the altar, and finds it used beside anathema.^[2] Augustine uses it several times.^[6][7][2]

In Medieval Latin it remained the term of canon law for the ban of the Church,^[8][9] distinguished by degree,^[10] and was also used more generally for exclusion.^[9] The Codes of Canon Law keep it as a censure that excludes a Catholic from communion with the faithful.^[11] English borrowed it in the mid-15th century as excommunication.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it for exclusion from the Church.^[2][13]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it.^[6][7]
• 673 – The Council of Hertford, as reported by Bede, threatens with it anyone who receives a wandering cleric.^[10]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as excommunication.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Excommunication, exclusion from the communion of the Church.^[2][6][11]
2. (Medieval Latin) Exclusion in general.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
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. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de