prohibitio

Forms

prohibitiō f (genitive prohibitiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prohibeō (“to hold back, prevent, forbid”) + -tiō.^[2][3][1] Late manuscripts sometimes write ⟨proib-⟩ or ⟨-bici-⟩.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Cicero, who uses it twice.^[3][4] Quintilian quotes him saying of a deed that it was not a punishment but the prevention of a crime: illa non poena, sed prohibitio sceleris fuit.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is rare and only in prose: Cicero, Quintilian and the mining law of Vipasca have it once or twice each.^[3] It meant making an action impossible or unlawful, a prevention or prohibition,^[2][5] and also hindering a person from doing something; the Vipasca law fines anyone who hinders someone taking a pledge, for each such hindrance.^[2] The jurists of the Digest use it for hindering in general and for legal prohibitions,^[5][6] and it becomes common from Tertullian on, who speaks of the prohibition of divorce.^[3][5][6]

Ecclesiastical Latin used it for a prohibition.^[7] In British sources it was a royal or papal prohibition, and in law the king's writ of prohibition, prohibitio regia.^[8] English took it over in the late 14th century, through Anglo-French and Old French, as prohibicioun.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the prevention of a crime.^[2][5][4]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian writes of the prohibition of divorce.^[5][6][4]
• 1st half of the 3rd century AD – The jurist Paulus uses it for hindering in general.^[5][6][4]
• 597 – A papal letter quoted by Bede uses it of being kept from the sacrament.^[8]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as prohibition.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The making of an action impossible or unlawful; Prevention, prohibition.^[2][5][7]
2. The hindering of a person from doing something.^[2][5][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A royal or papal prohibition;^[8] (law) prohibitio regia, a writ of prohibition.^[8]

Related words

• prohibeō
• English prohibition

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e 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 c d 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
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com