iustifico

Forms

iūstificō (present infinitive iūstificāre, perfect active iūstificāvī, supine iūstificātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin iūstus (“just”) + faciō (“to make”).^[2][1] Lewis & Short and Etymonline derive it from iūstificus “acting justly”.^[3][4] Augustine explains that a sinner is justified when he is made just from unjust.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tertullian uses it in Against Marcion for doing justice to a widow, and of a sinful woman made just by faith.^[3][2][5]

Semantic evolution

It belongs to Christian Latin, from the Old Latin Bible on, and the Vulgate kept it, as in volēns iūstificāre sē ipsum, “wishing to justify himself”, in Luke.^[2] Its central sense was to make or declare righteous, and in theology to justify a sinner by grace.^[2][3][6] The poets Ausonius, Prudentius and Paulinus of Nola use it once each.^[2]

In the Middle Ages it was also a legal word: to do justice to someone, to bring a person to justice or try them, to judge a crime or settle a case, to acquit, and to correct or set right.^[7][8] Through Old French justifiier it became English justify.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of doing justice and of justification by faith.^[3][2][5]
• after 220 AD – The Old Latin Bible (Itala) uses it.^[2][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Luke.^[2][5]
• 796 – Alcuin writes that the Holy Spirit justifies the soul by faith.^[8]
• 1101 – A royal charter uses it for bringing adversaries to justice.^[8]
• c. 1300 – English borrows it as justify, first “to administer justice”.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (Late Latin) To act justly towards, do justice to.^[3][2][1]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To make or declare righteous, justify; to absolve.^[2][3][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) To bring to justice, try; to judge.^[7][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) To acquit.^[7]
5. (Medieval Latin) To correct, set right.^[7]

Word family

• iūstificātiō
• iūstificātor
• iustificatrix

Related words

• iūstificus
• English justify

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c d 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