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interdictum

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word interdictum

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*deiḱ-)

Forms

interdictum n (genitive interdictī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is the neuter of interdictus (“forbidden”), the participle of interdīcō (“to forbid”), used as a noun.[2][3][1] The verb is inter (“between”) with dīcō (“to say”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *deik-e/o- (“to say”) and Proto-Indo-European *deiḱ-e/o- (“to show”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has “can't I tame you with my prohibitions?” in the Asinaria.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is a command or decree, especially a prohibition, as in Plautus and Cicero's prohibitions of the gods.[2][3] In law it is a provisional order or injunction issued by a praetor or proconsul, as in an inscribed law and in Quintilian and Ulpian.[2][3][5]

In Church Latin it is an interdict, a penalty that bars a member of the Church from certain services and sacraments.[6] Köbler finds it in the capitularies, councils and Burgundian law.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of prohibitions.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the prohibitions of the gods.[3][7]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of the praetor's interdict.[5][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A command, decree; a prohibition.[2][3][6]
  2. (law) A praetor's provisional order, an injunction, interdict.[2][3][1]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) An interdict barring someone from services and sacraments.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Interdictum.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/interdictum. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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