exlex

Forms

exlēx (genitive exlēgis); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ex- + lēx (“law”), “outside the law”.^[2][1] The TLL, after Leumann, explains it as a hypostasis: the phrase ⟨ex lēge⟩ grew together into one word.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Lucilius,^[4] whom the grammarian Nonius cites for it;^[5] Cicero uses it in the Pro Cluentio of someone not bound by the laws.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It describes a person exempt from or not bound by the law, and so lawless.^[2][5] It occurs mainly in the nominative and accusative and is rare, though Classical;^[5] Horace and Livy use it too.^[5]

In Medieval Latin it meant an outlaw, someone put outside the protection of the law.^[6][7] The MLW records it of outlawed and excommunicated people, of things without legal force, and as a noun.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in the Pro Cluentio.^[5][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it.^[5][4]
• 895 – It occurs in a capitulary.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not bound by the law, exempt from the law; lawless.^[2][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) Put outside the law; an outlaw.^[6][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) Without legal force, invalid.^[7]

Related words

• lēx

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften