inhibitio

Forms

inhibitiō f (genitive inhibitiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin inhibeō (“to restrain, hold back”) + -tiō.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it in a letter to Atticus as a nautical term, the backing of water by rowers, which he says has a more violent motion than ordinary rowing, since it turns the ship towards the stern.^[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it took the general sense of restraint or hindrance: Hilary of Poitiers uses it figuratively, Caelius Aurelianus of checking vapours, and the Code of Justinian of the restraints by which judges should curb perjury.^[3]

Medieval Latin used it for a prohibition,^[5][6] and in canon law for an interdict; positively it could also mean an order or mandate.^[6] Ecclesiastical Latin has it as “inhibition, restraining”.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of rowers backing water.^[2][8]
• c. 315–367/368 AD – Hilary of Poitiers uses it figuratively.^[3][8]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it of checking vapours.^[3][8]
• 528–534 AD – The Code of Justinian uses it of the judges' restraint of perjury.^[3][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (nautical) The action of backing water, rowing backwards.^[2][4]
2. (Late Latin) A restraint, check, hindrance.^[3][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) A prohibition;^[5][6] (canon law) an interdict.^[5][6]
4. (Medieval Latin) An order, mandate.^[6]

Related words

• inhibeō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de