Etymologically
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licitus

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Forms

licitus (feminine licita, neuter licitum); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin licet (“it is permitted”).[1][2][3] De Vaan traces licet back to Proto-Italic *likē-, whose first meaning he takes to have been “to be available, be on offer, have the value of”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the dictionaries give Virgil as the first author;[3][2][5] in the Aeneid it qualifies a conversation that is allowed.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In the Classical language it means “permitted, lawful, legitimate”, the opposite of illicitus.[1][2] The neuter is used as a noun for a permissible act: Velleius speaks of claiming whatever one pleased as allowed, and Tacitus has the phrase per licita atque inlicita foedatus “defiled by things lawful and unlawful”.[1][2] An adverb licitō “permissibly” is also recorded.[2]

It remained in use in law, in the councils and in Church Latin, where it means “licit, lawful”, with the adverb licitē.[3][6] English took it over as licit in the late 15th century.[7]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it in the Aeneid of a permitted conversation.[2][5][3]
  • c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius uses the neuter as a noun, of what one treats as allowed.[1][3]
  • 1st century AD – Manilius uses the neuter as a noun.[1][3]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus contrasts licita with inlicita.[1][2][3]
  • late 15th century – English borrows it as licit.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Permitted, allowed; lawful, legitimate.[1][2][5]
  2. (neuter as noun) A permissible or lawful act;[1][2] licita, things that are allowed.[1][2]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Licit, lawful.[6]

Usage notes

Medieval Latin also had a fourth-declension noun licitus “authorisation, licence”.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill