Etymologically
Log in

excusatio

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 00:12. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛk.skuːˈsaː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ek.skuˈs̬at.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

excūsātiō f (genitive excūsātiōnis); third declension[1] It is also spelled excussātiō.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin excūsō (“to excuse”) + -tiō.[3][1][2] ⟨Excūsō⟩ is ex- (“out of”) and causa (“cause, case”); de Vaan lists it among the derivatives of ⟨causa⟩, whose origin is unclear: Walde–Hofmann connected it with cūdō (“to strike”), while Ernout–Meillet doubted any Indo-European origin.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Cicero as its first author,[5] but the OLD has it already in Sisenna's history, of a man pleading his case and excuse before the consul.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is the offering of an excuse or a justification, as Cicero's excuse for a fault, and a plea to be excused from a duty, above all a public one, Cicero says a man thought no excuse could be right when he was called to defend the state.[3][2] In law, as in Ulpian, it is exemption from a burden such as a guardianship, and in Seneca the act of excusing or indulgence.[3]

Church Latin glosses it “excuse, justification, dispensation”.[6]

Timeline

  • 120–67 BC – Sisenna of an excuse offered to a consul.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of excuses and of pleas to be excused.[3][2][5]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of indulgence.[3][5]
  • before 223 AD – Ulpian of exemption from guardianship.[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An excuse, justification.[3][1][2]
  2. A plea to be excused (from a duty).[3]
  3. (law) Exemption, immunity, (Ecclesiastical Latin) a dispensation.[3][6]
  4. Excusing, indulgence.[3]

Word family

  • excusatiuncula

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes pūrgātiō, clearing oneself by showing a charge to be groundless, from excūsātiō, admitting a wrong but pleading circumstances that lessen it.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper