iustitium

Forms

iūstitium n (genitive iūstitiī or iūstitī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin iūs² (“law”) + sistō (“to bring to a stand”) + -ium, formed like sōlstitium.^[2][3][1][4] De Vaan traces the first part to Proto-Italic *jowos (“oath, law”), and sistō to Proto-Indo-European *sti-sth2- (“to make to stand”).^[5] Ancient grammarians explained it as the time when law stands still.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it from Cicero,^[6] who has iustitium edicere, to proclaim a suspension of business.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was a suspension of the courts and of all other public business, proclaimed in a national emergency or riot.^[2][7] Livy uses it often: a iustitium kept for several days, one begun in the forum of its own accord before it was proclaimed, and the phrase iustitium remittere, to end it.^[7] The OLD notes that later it was perhaps proclaimed only on the death of an emperor or one of his family,^[2] and Tacitus describes people deserting the forum in mourning for Germanicus.^[7] So it came to mean public mourning, as in Prudentius, and mourning in a household in Sidonius.^[7][4] Lucan uses it more widely of any pause in activity, the silence of an oracle.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of proclaiming a suspension of business.^[4][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of suspensions of business in emergencies.^[7][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of mourning for Germanicus.^[7][6]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius, of mourning in a household.^[7][4][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A suspension of judicial and other public business, proclaimed in an emergency.^[2][7][1]
2. Public mourning, especially on the death of an emperor or one of his family.^[2][7][4]
3. (transferred) Any suspension of activity, a pause.^[2][4]

Word family

• iustitiāle

Related words

• iūs²
• sistō
• sōlstitium

Usage notes

Conte warns that the dative and ablative plural iustitiis of this word looks the same as that of iūstitia.^[4] The glossaries also have a separate iustitium meaning “justice”, made from iūstitia.^[3]

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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press