redemptio

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [rɛˈdeːmp.ti.oː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [reˈdɛmp.t͡si.o]^[1]

Forms

redēmptiō f (genitive redēmptiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin redimo (“to buy back”) + -tiō.^[2][1] redimō is from re- and emō “to buy, take”.^[2][3] The TLL records the spellings redemtio and redimtio in inscriptions.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero, in the first speech against Verres, says the verdict in that trial had been bought for a large sum.^[5][6] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In Cicero it was the buying of something: a public contract, the farming of revenues, and corruptly a court's verdict, as well as bribery.^[2][6] The Alexandrian War speaks of soldiers buying their discharge, sacrāmentī redēmptiō.^[2] From Livy on it was the ransoming of captives, and Valerius Maximus uses it of the gold brought to ransom a girl.^[2][8] Jurists use it of purchase in general.^[2]

Christian Latin used it of redemption, deliverance from sin.^[7][3] In medieval Latin it was a ransom, the wergeld, payment to escape corporal punishment and the commutation of labour services for money.^[9] Through Old French raenson it gave English ransom in the 13th century, and English redemption is recorded in the mid-14th century as deliverance from sin.^[3]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a bought verdict and of a contract.^[2][6][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of ransoming captives.^[2][7]
• 13th century – English ransom is recorded.^[3]
• mid-14th century – English redemption is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A buying, purchase.^[2]
2. The taking of a contract; bribery, the buying of a verdict.^[2][6]
3. ransom, ransoming.^[2][8]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) redemption, salvation.^[7][3]
5. (Medieval Latin) A ransom; the wergeld; a commuted payment.^[9]

Related words

• redimō
• English redemption
• English ransom

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill