iussus

Forms

iussus m (genitive iussūs); fourth declension^[1] It is used only in the ablative singular, iussū.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from iubeō (“to order”) with the suffix -tus.^[2][3] De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Italic *jouþ-eje/o- and the causative Proto-Indo-European *Hyowdʰ-éye- (“to cause to move”), so that “set in motion” became “order”; cognate with Ancient Greek ὑσμίνη (husmínē, “battle”) and Lithuanian judėti (“to move”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Amphitruo: Iovis iussū veniō, “I come at Jupiter's bidding”.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

It means bidding or command, nearly always as iussū with a possessive or a genitive: tuō iussū profectus sum, “I set out on your orders” (Plautus), vestrō iussū, “by your command” (Cicero).^[2][3] Church Latin glosses iussū “by command, order or decree”, and it recurs in the early medieval law codes.^[4][6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of the bidding of Jupiter.^[3][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the command of the people.^[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (only ablative) Bidding, command, order, iussū with a genitive, by order of.^[2][1][4]

Related words

• iubeō
• iniussū

Usage notes

Iussus is also the past participle of iubeō, “ordered”, and its neuter iussum is the usual noun for “a command”.^[1][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 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