repudium

Forms

repudium n (genitive repudiī or repudī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The OLD derives it from re- and pudeō (“to be ashamed”) with the suffix -ium,^[2] and de Vaan lists it among the derivatives of pudeō, which he traces to Proto-Italic *pud-ē- (“to be ashamed”); the further origin of that verb is uncertain.^[3] The TLL, following Leumann, instead derives it from re- and pēs (“foot”), through a possessive adjective ⟨*re-pod-⟩, “kicking the foot back against someone”.^[4] Köbler gives both explanations.^[5] Festus reports Verrius Flaccus' view that it was named from something shameful, ⟨ob rem pudendam⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[3] in whom a character says he has been ordered to announce the breaking-off of an engagement, is me nunc renuntiare repudium iussit tibi.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is the rejection of a prospective wife or husband, the breaking of an engagement;^[2][6] repudium renuntiāre and remittere are the usual phrases, in Plautus, Terence and Lucilius.^[2][6] It then means a divorce.^[2] The Digest distinguishes it from dīvortium: an engagement to a future marriage can be the subject of a repudium, but a betrothed woman is not properly said to divorce.^[6] Döderlein describes it as a one-sided putting away of a bride or wife, while dīvortium was a dissolution by which each party was released.^[7] Lewis & Short note that Cicero uses only dīvortium.^[6] Seneca applies it to desertion in marriage.^[2] In Church Latin it means divorce.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a broken engagement.^[2][3][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence, repudium renuntiāre.^[6][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of desertion in marriage.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The rejection of a prospective wife or husband, the breaking of an engagement.^[2][6][1]
2. A divorce, repudiation;^[2][6][8][1] matrimonial desertion.^[2]

Word family

• repudiō
• repudiōsus

Related words

• pudeō
• pudor
• dīvortium

References

1. ^ a b c 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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson