Etymologically
Log in

fraudatio

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 20:03. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [frau̯ˈdaː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [frau̯ˈdat.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

fraudātiō f (genitive fraudātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin fraudō (“to cheat, defraud”) + -tiō,[2][1][3] and the verb is formed from fraus (“deceit, fraud”).[4] De Vaan lists both among the derivatives of the noun; its further origin is uncertain, and he reconstructs it only tentatively as Proto-Indo-European *dʰrou-V́-d(ʰ)-.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus is the first to use it:[4] in the Asinaria slaves are said to have ad erī fraudātiōnem callidum ingenium, “a mind cunning at cheating their master”.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

L&S calls the word rare but classical.[7] Cicero sets it against good faith, hinc fidēs, illinc fraudātiō,[3][7] and it belonged to legal language: Cicero quotes the old formula that between honest men things should be done well and sine fraudātiōne,[7] and the praetor's edict spoke of a debtor who went into hiding fraudātiōnis causā, in order to defraud, a phrase Gaius and the Digest also use.[3][7]

In medieval Latin it meant deceit and fraud, and also the withholding or embezzlement of something; a Freising charter of 817 uses it.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of slaves cheating their master.[3][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in his speeches and quotes it from legal formulas.[3][4]
  • 140–180 AD – Gaius uses the edict's phrase fraudātiōnis causā.[3][4]
  • 817 – A charter from Freising uses it for fraud.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Fraud, cheating, swindling.[2][7]
  2. (law) fraudātiōnis causā: with intent to defraud (one's creditors).[3][7]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Withholding, embezzlement.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften