impositio

Forms

impositiō f (genitive impositiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin impōnō (“to place on, impose”) + -tiō.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro, in On the Latin Language, uses it for the giving of names to things, which he sets beside inflection: duo … omnino verborum principia, impositio et declinatio, alterum ut fons, alterum ut rivus, “there are two origins of words in all, the naming and the inflection, the one like a spring, the other like a stream”.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

Besides the grammatical sense, the word for the giving of a name and the name itself,^[2][1] it meant the placing on or applying of something, as of remedies in Scribonius Largus.^[2][5] In Christian Latin impositio manuum was the laying on of hands in the liturgy.^[6][7] Medieval Latin added the levying of taxes, a due, and an accusation or charge.^[6] English imposition (late 14th century, first “a tax”) came from Old French imposicion, from the Latin word.^[8]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it for the giving of names.^[2][4]
• 28–58 AD – Scribonius Largus uses it for the applying of remedies.^[2]
• late 14th century – English borrows imposition through Old French.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The placing on or application of something, as of remedies.^[2][5]
2. (grammar) The giving of names to things; also, the name given, a denomination.^[2][3][1]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) impositio manuum: the laying on of hands.^[6][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) The levying of taxes; a due.^[6]
5. (Medieval Latin) An accusation, a charge.^[6]

Related words

• English imposition

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com