indutiae

Forms

indūtiae f pl (genitive indūtiārum); first declension^[1] It is also spelled indūciae, and in an archaizing passage of Cicero indōtiae.^[2][3] Gellius cites an archaic singular.^[2]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[4][2] The TLL thinks it is derived from an unattested ⟨*indūtus⟩, as nūptiae (“wedding”) from ⟨nūptus⟩, but calls the origin and first meaning uncertain.^[5] De Vaan notes that it points to an adjective ⟨*dūto-⟩ and reports Weiss's suggestion of Proto-Indo-European *n̥-duh₂-tio- (“inability”), from a root *duh₂- (“to be able, arrange”); this would parallel a proposed derivation of bellum (“war”) from bonus (“good”).^[6][1] Lewis & Short explained it as indu (“in”) with eō (“to go”), a going into rest.^[3] Gellius reports a fanciful explanation by Aurelius Opillus from a phrase meaning “thence to use now”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[6] whose Captivi speaks of sending someone else once there is a truce.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a cessation of hostilities, a truce or armistice;^[2][3] Varro called it a holiday of war, and Cicero mentions a truce of thirty days agreed with the enemy.^[2][3] In general it is a period of grace or respite, as Apuleius' Medea, who obtained a single day's respite from Creon and burned his whole house.^[2]

In medieval Latin it is a truce between private parties imposed by town magistrates, a deferment, and a stay in legal proceedings.^[7] Köbler finds it in the Burgundian law code, the capitularies and many chronicles.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a truce.^[2][6][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro calls a truce a holiday of war.^[3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a thirty-day truce.^[3][4]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius of a day's respite.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cessation of hostilities, armistice, truce.^[2][3][8][1]
2. A period of grace, respite.^[2][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) A truce between private parties imposed by magistrates.^[7]
4. (Medieval Latin) A deferment; a stay in legal proceedings.^[7]

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 i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson