Etymologically
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negotiatio

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 13:23. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [nɛ.ɡoː.tiˈaː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ne.ɡot.t͡siˈaː.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

negōtiātiō f (genitive negōtiātiōnis); third declension[1] Also spelled negōciātiō.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin negōtior (“to do business”) + -tiō,[3][1] from negōtium (“business”), made of nec (“not”) and ōtium (“leisure”).[1] Augustine explains it as leisure denied.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it first,[5] in a letter about going to the remains of a business in Asia,[3] that is, debts still to be collected.[6]

Semantic evolution

It is wholesale or banking business,[2][6] and under the Empire any trade:[6] Livy has a king diverting all the sea trade, Petronius a speaker who gives up trade to lend money to freedmen, and Quintilian calls charging fees for defending clients a trade to be abhorred.[3] Suetonius says Vespasian carried on dealings shameful even for a private man.[3][2] Columella has cattle trading, and the jurists the cloth trade.[2][6] The jurist Gaius uses it for a business, a shop or concern.[3] The Vulgate has “do not make my Father's house a house of trade”.[2] Church Latin has business, traffic and merchandise.[7] English negotiation came from it in the early 15th century, partly through Old French, first in the sense of trading.[8]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of business in Asia.[3][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of maritime trade.[3][5]
  • 140–180 AD – Gaius, of a business establishment.[3][5]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate, “a house of trade”.[2][5]
  • early 15th century – English negotiation.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Business, trade, especially wholesale trade or banking; a commercial transaction.[3][2][1]
  2. A commercial establishment, a business.[3]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) merchandise, traffic.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com