quotatio

Forms

quotātiō f (genitive quotātiōnis); third declension^[1] The spelling cotatio also occurs.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin quotus + -tiō in Medieval Latin, from the adjective meaning “which in number”.^[2][1] Etymonline explains it instead as the noun of action of the verb quotō (“to number”), made from the same adjective.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates its first record to about 1380, from Latham's word-list,^[1] with the sense of numbering or reckoning.^[1]

Semantic evolution

British sources use it for the reckoning of time, as when chroniclers note a discrepancy of two years in the counting of the years, and for annotations and references added to a text, as in a library catalogue listing works “with references to canon and civil law”.^[2] In Neo-Latin it came to mean a citation: a letter of 1512 praises an editor for adding to the margin the citations, “or quotations, as they say”, of the Bible and other books.^[4] English quotation first meant “numbering” and later a marginal note, and only in the 17th century a quoted passage.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – First record of the word, according to Köbler.^[1]
• mid-15th century – English quotation appears in the sense “numbering”.^[3]
• 1512 – A Neo-Latin letter uses it for citations written in the margin.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) Numbering, reckoning, especially of the years.^[1][2]
2. (Medieval Latin) An annotation or reference added to a text.^[2]
3. (New Latin) A citation, quotation.^[4]

Related words

• quotus
• quot
• English quotation

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
2. ^ a b c d e 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
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de