latrocinium

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ɫa.troːˈkɪ.ni.ũː], [ɫat.roːˈkɪ.ni.ũː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [la.troˈt͡ʃiː.ni.um], [lat.roˈt͡ʃiː.ni.um]^[1]

Forms

latrōcinium n (genitive latrōciniī or latrōcinī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from latrō “mercenary, robber” with -cinium, or from the verb latrōcinor “to rob, serve for pay”.^[2][1][3] The OLD derives latrō probably from a Greek *λάτρων, comparing Ancient Greek λάτρον (látron, “pay”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has “you were in the king's pay as a mercenary”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense, military service for pay, is only in Plautus.^[4][5] It came to mean robbery with violence, banditry and piracy, as Verres' night raid on the shrine of Delos in Cicero, and forcible seizure or plunder.^[2][4] Georges notes it was often used of unlawful warfare and as an insult to disloyal citizens.^[3] By metonymy it meant a band of robbers, as in Cicero's Catilinarians.^[2]

In Christian Latin it was used of an illegitimate church council, the “robber synod” of Ephesus.^[1] In medieval Latin it meant theft, the jurisdiction over theft and robbery, and stolen goods.^[6] French larcin continues it, and English larceny came from the French in the late 15th century.^[7][1][8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of mercenary service.^[4][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of robbery and of a band of robbers.^[2][9]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of brigandage.^[5][9]
• late 15th century – English larceny is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Military service for pay.^[4][1]
2. Robbery, brigandage, piracy.^[2][1]
3. Plunder, pillage; lawless violence.^[2][1]
4. A band of robbers.^[2][1]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) An illegitimate church council.^[1]
6. (Medieval Latin) Theft, larceny; jurisdiction over theft; stolen goods.^[6]

Word family

• latrōcinālis
• latrōnicium

Related words

• latro
• English larceny

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de