Etymologically
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excuso

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ɛkˈskuː.soː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ekˈskuː.s̬o][1]

Forms

excūsō (present infinitive excūsāre, perfect active excūsāvī, supine excūsātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from ex- “out of” and causa “cause, case”, with the verb suffix -ō, as if “to release from a charge”.[2][1][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of pleading something as an excuse.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant to excuse, justify a person or conduct, as Cicero's aliquem alicui excūsāre and in Livy.[2][7] From Plautus it meant to plead as an excuse, innocentiam excūsāre to plead innocence.[2] In Varro it meant to exempt from a duty, and in Livy reflexively to excuse oneself, decline, in Tacitus to make excuses for refusing, and in Pliny diem excūsāre to ask a day's grace.[2] In Seneca it meant to absolve.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to excuse, absolve, plead as an excuse.[8] It survives in Italian scusare, French excuser and Spanish excusar, and Old French escuser gave English excuse in the mid-13th century.[1][5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of pleading an excuse.[2][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of exempting.[2][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of justifying.[2][6]
  • mid-13th century – English excuse is recorded.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To excuse, justify.[2]
  2. To plead as an excuse.[2]
  3. To exempt.[2]
  4. To excuse oneself, decline.[2]
  5. To absolve.[2]

Word family

  • excūsābilis
  • excūsābundus
  • excusamentum
  • excūsātiō
  • excusator
  • inexcūsātus
  • subexcuso
  • excūsātē
  • excūsātus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson