Etymologically
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fiduciarius

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [fiː.duː.kiˈaː.ri.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [fi.du.t͡ʃiˈaː.ri.us][1]

Forms

fīdūciārius (feminine fīdūciāria, neuter fīdūciārium); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin fīdūcia + -ārius,[2][3] from fīdūcia (“trust; a pledge”), which belongs with fīdō (“to trust”).[4][5] That verb goes back to Proto-Italic *feiþe- and Proto-Indo-European *bheidh-e/o- (“to trust”).[4] The noun “trustee” is the adjective used as a noun.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Caesar uses it in the Civil War of the duty of a legate who holds a command in trust.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It was a technical term of law for what is held in trust and for the person who holds it:[7][8] the jurist Gaius speaks of a tutor fiduciarius and of a fiduciaria coemptio, a sham purchase, and the Digest of a heres fiduciarius, an heir who receives property on trust.[2][7][9] Outside law it meant “entrusted, held for another”, as when Livy has a city handed over to Nabis as if in trust.[2] An inscription uses it as a noun, “trustee”.[2]

In a medieval charter it describes the executor of a will.[10] English fiduciary comes from it in the 1640s.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of a command held in trust.[2][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a city given as if in trust.[2][6]
  • 140–180 AD – Gaius uses it of a guardian and of a sham purchase.[2][6]
  • 1159 – A charter of the bishop of Würzburg uses it of the executor of a will.[10]
  • 1640s – English borrows it as fiduciary.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (law) Holding something on trust, fiduciary.[2][7]
  2. Of or proper to a trustee.[2]
  3. Held on trust, entrusted.[2][1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Charged with carrying out a will or trust.[10]

Noun

  1. A trustee.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 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 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. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  10. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften