reiectio

Forms

reiectiō f (genitive reiectiōnis); third declension^[1] The OLD writes it with a long first vowel, rēiectiō;^[2] it is also spelled rējectiō.^[3][1]

Etymology

It is from Latin rēiciō (“to throw back, reject”) + -tiō.^[2][4][5] That verb is formed with re- from iaciō (“to throw”),^[2] which goes back to Proto-Italic *jak-i- (“to throw”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero,^[7][5] who uses it of rejection in general, of renouncing citizenship, and of the challenging of jurors.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the De finibus Cicero pairs sēlēctiō and reiectiō, the choosing of what accords with nature and the rejection of what is contrary to it.^[2][3] In the Pro Balbo it is the renunciation of a citizenship.^[2][8] As a legal term it was the right of the prosecutor or the defendant to reject some of the jurors chosen by lot: in a letter Cicero writes reiectiō facta est clāmōribus maximīs, “the challenging was done amid loud uproar”.^[2][3][9] Quintilian uses it of shifting a charge onto someone else,^[9][10] and the rhetorician Julius Rufinianus of the dismissal of points that do not belong to the question.^[10][8]

In a physical sense it meant throwing up: Pliny the Elder has sanguinis reiectiō, the spitting of blood, and the TLL finds it often in the medical writers.^[2][3][5] In British Medieval Latin it was used of the expulsion of a disseisor from land and of vomiting.^[11]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of rejection and of the challenging of jurors.^[2][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of spitting blood.^[2][7]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of shifting blame onto another.^[9][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A throwing up, vomiting; the spitting (of blood).^[2][3]
2. Rejection, refusal; repudiation (of a citizenship).^[2][3]
3. (law) The challenge of jurors chosen by lot.^[2][3][9]
4. (rhetoric) The shifting of a charge onto another; the dismissal of points foreign to the question.^[9][10][8]
5. (Medieval Latin) Expulsion (from land).^[11]

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 l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
10. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
11. ^ a b 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