Etymologically
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infitiatio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ĩː.fɪ.tiˈaː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iɱ.fit.t͡siˈaː.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

īnfitiātiō f (genitive īnfitiātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin īnfitior (“to deny”) + -tiō,[2][1][3] a verb made from the phrase ⟨īnfitiās īre⟩ “to deny”.[4] De Vaan suggests that the noun behind that phrase may continue ⟨*in-fato-⟩ “unsaid”, from the family of fateor (“to admit”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Rhetorica ad Herennium,[5][6] which illustrates a denial with intentiō: occīdistī Aiācem. īnfitiātiō: nōn occīdī, “the charge: you killed Ajax; the denial: I did not”.[5][7]

Semantic evolution

In rhetoric and the courts it was the defence that simply denies the charge: Cicero says that most criminal cases are defended by denial,[5][8] and Quintilian and the elder Seneca use it in the same technical sense.[5][3] It was also the denial of a debt or of property held in trust: Seneca uses it of refusing to acknowledge a benefit or a deposit,[3][7] and a passage of the Digest rules that denying a deposit is not in itself theft.[3][7] In the plural it meant such frauds generally.[8][3]

Medieval legal writers kept the word; in England it is used in church court records, and Peter of Blois repeats that in civil law a suit doubled in value through denial.[9]

Timeline

  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it for a defendant's denial.[5][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero says most cases are defended by denial.[5][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of denying a debt or a benefit.[3][6]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it as a term of rhetoric.[5][6]
  • 1293 – An English church court record uses it of a defendant's denial.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Denial of a charge or fact, as a line of defence.[2][8][3]
  2. (law) Repudiation of a debt, deposit or liability; in the plural, frauds of this kind.[2][8][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  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 d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press