Etymologically
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mancipium

Etymology and origin of the Latin word mancipium

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
Twelve Tables
Ultimate origin
Latin (manus,capiō)

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [maŋˈkɪ.pi.ũː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [man̠ʲˈt͡ʃiː.pi.um][1]

Forms

mancipium n (genitive mancipiī or mancipī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from manceps “purchaser, contractor”, from manus “hand” and capiō “to take”, with the suffix -ium: a taking by the hand.[2][1][3][4] Isidore of Seville explains it as whatever can be taken by hand and subdued, as a man, a horse or a sheep.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation is the Twelve Tables, of formal conveyance, and Köbler dates them about 450 BC.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In law it meant the laying hold of a thing before witnesses as a formal way of conveying property, then the full ownership so acquired, with mancipiō dare and accipere “to convey, receive by mancipation”, and rēs mancipī “things so owned”.[2] It meant a slave, as in Plautus, and figuratively a servant or creature, as in Seneca.[2] Döderlein lists it among words for a servant who is not free.[7] The spelling mancupium also occurs.[2][3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant legal purchase, ownership, property, a slave.[8] In Medieval Latin it covered several kinds of dependants, including tributaries of a church.[9] It survives in Spanish and Portuguese mancebo “young man”.[1] English emancipate comes from its verb ēmancipāre “to release from paternal authority”, in the 1620s.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use it of conveyance.[2][6]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a slave.[2][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of ownership and of a servant.[2][6]
  • 1620s – English emancipate is recorded.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (law) Formal conveyance by mancipation.[2]
  2. Full ownership.[2]
  3. A slave; a servant, creature.[2]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A dependant.[9]

Word family

  • mancipārius
  • mancipiolum

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Mancipium.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/mancipium. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·