iuro

Forms

iūrō (present infinitive iūrāre, perfect active iūrāvī, supine iūrātum); first conjugation^[1] Early inscriptions spell it iour-.^[2] An old future perfect iūrāssit is found.^[2] A deponent iūror also occurs.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin iūs (“law, right”) + -ō, a verb made from the noun.^[2][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *jowes-ā-je- (“to swear”), from the s-stem *jowos (“oath, law”) of iūs, which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂oyu- (“vital force, eternity”), cognate with Sanskrit आयुस् (ā́yus-, “life, lifespan”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has ut iūrat! servat mē ille suīs periūriīs, “how he swears! he saves me by his perjuries”.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Iūrāre is “to take an oath, swear” (Cicero of a man who would not be believed even sī āram tenēns iūrāret, “if he swore with his hand on the altar”), with an accusative and infinitive “to swear that”, and “to promise on oath, vow” (Virgil: Dido did not swear at Aulis to destroy the Trojans).^[2][3][1] Of a group it is “to conspire”, in someone “against” them.^[2] In verba alicuius iūrāre is to swear allegiance to someone, especially of soldiers to their commander.^[2][3] In law in lītem iūrāre is to value one's claim on oath, and calumniam iūrāre to swear that a case is brought in good faith.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “to swear, take an oath”.^[4] English jury comes, through Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin iūrāta, “an oath, a sworn inquest”, the feminine participle of this verb.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: ut iūrat!.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: sī āram tenēns iūrāret.^[2][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a vow at Aulis.^[2][6]
• early 14th century – English jury.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To swear, take an oath.^[2][3][1][4]
2. To declare on oath (that).^[2]
3. To promise on oath, vow.^[2][1]
4. To conspire;^[2] iūrāre in: to conspire against.^[2]
5. in verba iūrāre: to swear according to a formula; to swear allegiance (to).^[2][3]
6. (law) in lītem iūrāre: to value a claim on oath;^[2] calumniam iūrāre: to swear that an action is brought in good faith.^[2]

Related words

• iūs
• iūstus
• iūrāmentum
• English jury

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com