Etymologically
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iustitium

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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

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