proscriptio

Forms

prōscrīptiō f (genitive prōscrīptiōnis); third declension^[1] Old manuscripts sometimes spell it -scribt-.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin prōscrībō (“to publish, proscribe”) + -tiō.^[3][1][2] ⟨prōscrībō⟩ is from scrībō (“to write”), which de Vaan derives from Proto-Italic *skreif-e/o- (“to carve”) and Proto-Indo-European *skreibʰ-e/o- (“to carve”), cognate with Oscan scriftas (“written”) and Umbrian screhto (“written”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[5] who uses it of the public notice of a sale of goods.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

It is first a written notice announcing a sale, as of property.^[3][6] Cicero also uses it of the publication of the names of citizens declared outlaws, whose goods were confiscated, above all the proscription of Sulla, “that most bitter proscription”.^[3] Isidore explains it as exile far away, as if porrō scrīptiō, “writing far off”.^[2]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of notices of sale and of Sulla's proscription.^[3][5]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore explains it as distant exile.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A public notice of sale, an advertisement.^[3][6][1]
2. The publishing of the names of outlaws whose property was confiscated, proscription.^[3][1]

Related words

• prōscrībō
• scrībō

References

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