Etymologically
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multa

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmʊɫ.ta], [ˈmʊɫ.taː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmul.ta], [ˈmul.ta][1]

Forms

multa f (genitive multae); first declension[1] Inscriptions have molta.[2][3] The spelling mulcta is also found.[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *moltā, a word of the Italic languages.[1] Cognate with Oscan moltam (“fine”) and Umbrian motar (“of a fine”).[2][3] De Vaan lists it under multus (“much”): a fine would be a “quantity” to be paid, but he calls the link not certain.[3] Varro, as reported by Gellius, held that the word was Sabine, not Latin, and Paulus' abridgement of Festus says some thought it Oscan.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[3][6] who has “let this be his fine, that he go without wine for twenty days”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a penalty paid in property, at first in livestock and later in money.[2][4] Lewis & Short report that in the oldest times the highest fine was thirty head of cattle and the lowest one sheep, as in the legal formula unum ovem multam dico;[4] Cicero speaks of fines in sheep and oxen.[4] From the beginning it was also used of any penalty, as in Plautus and Catullus.[2] Usual phrases are multam dicere “to impose a fine”, irrogare “to propose a fine” and committere “to incur one”.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a penalty.[2][3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of fines in sheep and oxen.[4][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a money fine imposed on cities.[4][6]
  • early 15th century – English mulct comes from the verb mulctāre, from this noun.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A fine, a penalty in property or money;[2][4][1] multam dicere, to impose a fine.[4]
  2. Any penalty, punishment.[2]

Word family

  • multātīcius
  • multāticus
  • multō
  • English mulct

Usage notes

Lewis & Short contrast it with poena, which is any kind of punishment, including bodily punishment, prison and death.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de