Etymologically
Log in

locatio

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 21:12. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

locātiō f (genitive locātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin locō (“to place; to let out”) + -tiō.[2][1][3] Locō is from locus “place”.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it only in prose, from Cicero and the laws of his time, Varro and Livy on.[3] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant the hiring out or letting of property, as in inscriptions, in Cicero's letters, and in the letting of the Macedonian mines.[2][6] By metonymy it was the lease or contract itself, which could be cancelled.[7][6] Isidore of Seville defines it as a thing given for use at a fixed price.[8] Quintilian uses it of the arrangement of words, whose faulty order causes ambiguity.[2][9]

In medieval Latin it meant a placing, place or position, the grant of lands, and in British sources the placing of sheep at a manorial court.[10][4] English location is recorded in the 1590s for a position or place.[5]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of letting contracts.[6][4]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of the arrangement of words.[2][4]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville defines it in law.[8][4]
  • 1590s – English location is recorded.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Arrangement, disposition.[2][1]
  2. The letting or hiring out of property; a lease.[2][1]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A placing, position, location.[10]

Word family

  • delocatio

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press