iactus

Forms

iactus m (genitive iactūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin iaciō (“to throw”) + -tus.^[2][3] De Vaan traces ⟨iaciō⟩ to Proto-Italic *jak-i- (“to throw”) and Proto-Indo-European *(H)ieh₁- (“to throw, let go”), cognate with Ancient Greek ἵημι (híēmi, “to send, throw”).^[4] Isidore derived it from ⟨iaciendō⟩.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[4] who has a dice player ask for a cup of mead for his throw.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the act of throwing or hurling, and the range of a missile: Virgil has trees so high that no arrow can reach the top with a throw, and Seneca rising beyond any weapon's reach.^[2][6] It is used of a fall from a height, as Lucretius' fearful throw from the rock, of a throw of dice, of the catch of one cast of a net, and of the jettison of cargo from a ship.^[2] It is also a toss of the head, the emission of rays of light, and an utterance of the voice.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “cast, throw”.^[7] In Medieval Latin it was also a jetty, land built up by the sea, a fishing right, a surplus, and a fine for not appearing in court.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a throw of dice.^[2][9]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of a fall from a rock and of rays of light.^[2][9]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of throwing arrows.^[2][9]
• Medieval Latin – a jetty; a fishing right.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A throw, cast, hurling; the range of a missile.^[2][6][1][7]
2. A fall from a height.^[2]
3. The catch of one cast of a net.^[2]
4. A throw of dice.^[2]
5. A throwing overboard, jettison; things thrown away.^[2]
6. A toss of part of the body; the emission of light; an utterance.^[2]
7. (Medieval Latin) A jetty, pier; land built up by the sea; a fishing right; a surplus; a fine for default in court.^[8]

Related words

• iaciō

Usage notes

The same spelling is the perfect passive participle of ⟨iaciō⟩, “thrown”, and in Pliny the Elder the name of a river flowing into the Po.^[6][1]

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. ^ a b 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. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de