restrictio

Forms

restrictiō f (genitive restrictiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin restringō (“to draw back, bind fast”) + -tiō, formed on the stem of its past participle.^[2][3] The verb is formed from re- and stringō (“to bind fast, tighten”).^[4][3] De Vaan sees in the simple verb a merger of two inherited verbs, one meaning “to strip off” and one meaning “to tie”; the sense “to tie”, which all its compounds share, he traces to Proto-Indo-European *strengh- (“to draw, tie”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a word of Late, chiefly Christian Latin.^[5][6] One of the first to use it is Ambrose (c. 340–397), for moderation or self-restraint.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Augustine uses it for cutting down on meals, restrictio epularum,^[5][8][6] Chalcidius for stinginess,^[8] and the medical writer Plinius Valerianus for constipation: every pulse that causes restrictio.^[8]

In medieval Latin it kept the sense of restraint, as in Bede's restraint of the pleasures of the flesh.^[2] Logicians used it for the narrowing of a term's sense or reference, from Robert Pullen and Alexander Neckam to Duns Scotus and Ockham, and Thomas More's Utopia mentions the rules on restrictions that boys learned from the little handbooks of logic.^[2] In English law it was a legal restriction, prohibition or condition.^[2] English borrowed it in the early 15th century, first for the staunching of bleeding,^[3] and Italian has restrizione from Late Latin.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 340–397 – Ambrose uses it of moderation.^[6][7]
• 354–430 – Augustine speaks of a restriction of meals.^[5][8][7]
• 1356 – A writ sets aside any statute, ordinance or restrictio to the contrary.^[2]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as restriction.^[3]
• 1438 – A royal order forbidding the export of grain without special licence refers to itself as a restrictio.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Restraint, limitation, moderation.^[5][8][6][9]
2. Stinginess.^[8]
3. (medicine) Constipation.^[8]
4. (Medieval Latin, logic) The narrowing of the sense or reference of a term.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin, law) A legal restriction, prohibition or condition.^[2]

Related words

• English restriction

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b 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 d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson