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excusatus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word excusatus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 55 BC–40 AD, Seneca the Elder
Ultimate origin
Latin (causa)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin excuso
French excuser
French excuse
Latin excusatio
Latin excusatus

Forms

excūsātus (feminine excūsāta, neuter excūsātum, comparative excūsātior, superlative excūsātissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the perfect participle from Latin excūsō (“to excuse, justify”).[1][3][4] De Vaan lists that verb among the derivatives of causa (“cause, case”), formed with ex-.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Seneca the Elder has the comparative: excusatius est, “it is more excusable”, with an infinitive.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it describes a person or action held to be free from blame, or one that admits of excuse.[1] Seneca has the superlative excusatissimus essem, “I would be fully excused”.[2]

In medieval Latin, also spelled scusatus, it became a noun for a person who had left his master and put himself under the protection of another lord, and for a person exempt from public charges and bound only to manorial duties.[6] Köbler finds it in the capitularies and in a diploma of 787.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 55 BC–40 AD – Seneca the Elder uses the comparative excusatius.[2][4]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses the superlative excusatissimus.[2][4]
  • 787 – A diploma has the word.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (of a person or action) excused, held free from blame; excusable.[1][2]

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) A man who had left his lord and put himself under another's protection.[6]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A person exempt from public charges and liable only to manorial duties.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  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 c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
Cite this entry

“Excusatus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/excusatus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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