lex

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈɫeːks]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈlɛks]^[1]

Forms

lēx f (genitive lēgis); third declension^[1] Inscriptions have lexs and the spellings leegei and leigibus.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *lēg- (“law”), a root noun which de Vaan interprets as a “collection” of rules, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to gather”), the root of legō “to gather, read”; he finds its existence in Proto-Indo-European uncertain for lack of exact cognates.^[3][1] Cognate with Marrucinian lixs and Oscan ligud “law”.^[3] The Oscan word for envoys, lígatús, is probably borrowed from Latin.^[3] Wiktionary also reports Palmer's derivation from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”), on the model of English law.^[1] Lewis and Short connected it with ligāre “to bind”,^[4] and Georges, like Isidore of Seville, took it as a “word-formula” from legere in the sense “to read, say”.^[5] De Vaan derives the verb meaning “to send as an envoy, bequeath”, with its compounds ablēgāre, dēlēgāre and relēgāre, from the noun itself, since they all involve a task or assignment.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is attested from Plautus onwards,^[3] who has a character accused of taking money against the law;^[2] Ennius too says that no law ever ordered anything harsher.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Gaffiot and Georges treat the original sense as a bill proposed by a magistrate to the people (legem ferre, rogare), which when passed became a statute.^[7][5] The OLD puts first the law as an active force, then the individual enactment, named after its subject (lex agraria) or its proposer (lex Porcia), the laws as a body or constitution, and legal title.^[2]

It was extended to any rule or regulation, to the rules of an art, especially of versification, to laws of nature, of war and of fate, to an inherent condition of existence, to due measure, and to control (sine lege, in disorder).^[2][4] In contracts it meant the terms of an agreement (lex operi faciundo), a condition (hac lege, on these terms), and the terms of peace.^[2]

In medieval Latin lex Romana was Roman law and leges the Germanic tribal codes, and the word also meant an ordeal, a judicial duel, a wergeld, customary dues and a person's legal status.^[8][6] Church writers used it for the law of God and for ecclesiastical law.^[9] The Romance languages keep it as Italian legge, French loi, Spanish ley, Portuguese lei and Romanian lege.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the law and of the terms of a bargain.^[2][6]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of a statute.^[2][6]
• 190–159 BC – Terence has lege agere, to go to law.^[2][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro speaks of a lex poetica, a rule of poetry.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero formulates salus populi suprema lex esto and the law of nature.^[2][6]
• 802 – The Lorsch annals use it in the medieval sense.^[10]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore defines lex as a written constitution of the people.^[5][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The law as the legal machinery of a state.^[2][4]
2. A bill proposed to the people; an enacted law, a statute.^[2][7]
3. (plural) The laws as a body, the constitution.^[2]
4. Legal right or title.^[2]
5. A rule or regulation made by any authority; a rule of an art, especially of versification.^[2][4]
6. A law established by divine authority or accepted by all; a law of nature; a decree of fate.^[2]
7. An inherent condition of existence; due measure, propriety.^[2]
8. (plural) Rule, control.^[2]
9. A contract, a condition or term, and in the plural the terms of peace.^[2][4]
10. (Medieval Latin) Roman law; a Germanic tribal code; an ordeal or judicial duel; a wergeld; legal status.^[8][6]
11. (Ecclesiastical Latin) The law of God; ecclesiastical law.^[9]

Word family

• exlēx
• illex
• lēgālis
• legarium
• lēgerupa
• lēgifer
• lēgislātiō
• lēgislātor
• lēgisperītus
• lēgitimus
• lēgumlātor

Related words

• dēcrētum
• ēdictum
• fās
• iūs
• scītum
• legō
• English legal
• English law

Usage notes

Isidore of Seville distinguished lex, a written constitution, from mōs, a custom proved by age, and explained the word as “what is read” (a legendo).^[5] Döderlein likewise separates cōnsuētūdō, a custom that grows of itself, from mōs, a habit grounded in reason.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ Novum Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC (1957–), Copenhagen / Geneva / Paris: Union Académique Internationale; IRHT
11. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper