modificatio

Forms

modificātiō f (genitive modificātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin modificō (“to measure, regulate”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Seneca, who speaks of the law and measured arrangement of verses, versuum lex ac modificātiō.^[3][5][4]

Semantic evolution

In the classical period it means the giving of measure or order to something: Gellius applies it to the arrangement of words,^[3][6] Favonius Eulogius to harmony and Augustine to bodies.^[3] Festus, in Paul's abridgement, uses it in explaining words from modus.^[3][7]

In Medieval Latin it took on the sense of a moderation, a condition or exception, as in a papal letter of 1384, a use Du Cange sets beside French ⟨modification⟩.^[8] British sources use it for a regulation or rule, for the performance of a lament in a musical mode, for a reckoning, and for a change, adjustment or qualification, as in Robert Kilwardby.^[9] English modification is recorded from about 1500, from French and directly from Latin;^[10] Italian has modificazione.^[5]

Timeline

• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca speaks of the measured arrangement of verses.^[3][4]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of the arrangement of words.^[3][6]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of the proportion of bodies.^[3]
• 1384 – A papal letter uses it of a condition or exception.^[8]
• c. 1500 – English modification is first recorded.^[10]
• 1503 – An English formulary uses it of a reckoning.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The giving of measure or order, regulation; measured arrangement.^[2][3][6]
2. (Medieval Latin) A condition, exception, moderation.^[8]
3. (Medieval Latin) A rule, regulation.^[9]
4. (Medieval Latin) A modification, adjustment, qualification.^[9]
5. (Medieval Latin, music) Composition or performance in a mode.^[9]
6. (Medieval Latin) A reckoning, calculation.^[9]

Related words

• English modification

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
9. ^ a b c d e f 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
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com