fiducia

Forms

fīdūcia f (genitive fīdūciae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from an unattested ⟨*fīdūcus⟩, from fīdō (“to trust”) like cadūcus from cadō, with the suffix -ia.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces fīdō to Proto-Italic *feiþe- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰeidʰ-e/o- (“to trust”), the root of fidēs (“faith”) and foedus (“treaty”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,^[4][5] who has ībō ad tē frētus tuā, Fidēs, fīdūciā, “I will come to you, Good Faith, relying on your protection”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In law fīdūcia is the transfer of property on trust, to be given back on certain terms (Cicero lists iūdicia fīdūciae among private suits), and in the ablative “on the responsibility of”.^[2][3][1] In general it is “trust, reliance, confidence” in a source of help (Caesar: such confidence in his own resources), fīdūciā “relying on”, and in poetry the person one relies on (Ovid).^[2][3][1] It is a confident expectation (Caesar: victōriae fīdūciam), and “self-confidence, assurance, courage” (Caesar: alacrēs et fīdūciae plēnī, “eager and full of confidence”).^[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “boldness, trust, confidence”, and cum fīdūciā “boldly”.^[6] In medieval Latin it is reliance on someone's protection and a solemn promise.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: frētus tuā, Fidēs, fīdūciā.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: iūdicia … fīdūciae.^[2][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar: alacrēs et fīdūciae plēnī.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) A transfer of property in trust; a pledge.^[2][3][1]
2. Trust, reliance, confidence (in someone or something).^[2][3][1][6]
3. Confident expectation; assurance.^[2]
4. Self-confidence, courage, boldness.^[2][1][6]
5. (Medieval Latin) Reliance on protection; a solemn promise.^[7]

Word family

• fīdūciārius
• fīdūciō

Related words

• fidēlis
• fidēlitās
• fidēliter
• fīdens
• fīdenter
• fīdentia
• fīdō
• fīdus
• fidēs
• cōnfīdō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill