munitio

Forms

mūnītiō f (genitive mūnītiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin mūniō (“to fortify”) + -tiō, a noun of action.^[2][1][3] De Vaan derives mūniō, older ⟨moeniō⟩, from moenia (“defensive walls”), from Proto-Italic *moini- (“protective wall”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *(H)moi-ni- (“construction”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Sisenna,^[4][3] who has sub hostium mūnītiōnem succēdunt, “they come up under the enemy's fortification”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Mūnītiō is the building of defensive works, “fortifying”, also the walling-in of a besieged place (Cicero: mūnītiō Thessalonīcae), and concretely, often in the plural, “a fortification, defence work”.^[2][5][1] It is also the building up of a road with a firm surface (Cicero: ex viārum mūnītiōne, “from the making of roads”), and figuratively a support for a cause.^[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “fort, entrenchment”.^[6] Medieval Latin adds “protection”, “a protected place”, “a charter” and “the validation of a deed”.^[7] English munition comes from it through French in the 1530s, first as “fortification”.^[8]

Timeline

• 120–67 BC – Sisenna: sub hostium mūnītiōnem succēdunt.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of road-making.^[2][3]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of fortifications.^[5][3]
• 1530s – English munition.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. fortifying, the building of defences; circumvallation.^[2][5][1]
2. A fortification, defence work, rampart.^[2][5][1][6]
3. The building up (of a road).^[2][1]
4. (figurative) A support (for a cause).^[1]
5. (Medieval Latin) Protection; a protected place;^[7] a charter; the validation of a deed.^[7]

Word family

• munitiuncula

Related words

• mūniō
• moenia
• mūnīmentum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com