retractatio

Forms

retractātiō f (genitive retractātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin retractō + -tiō.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it in the Philippics in the phrase sine ulla retractatione, of men who gave their lives for their country without any hesitation.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was a drawing back: hesitation, shrinking from a task, nearly always with sine “without”, and the taking back of one's words.^[2][3] A second group of senses went back to “handling again”: the repetition of words in Quintilian, the re-examination of a question in the jurist Modestinus, and the recollection of departed friends in Seneca.^[2]

Augustine's Retractationes, a review of his own works, gave it the sense “revision”, and British medieval writers used it in the titles of books by Augustine, Jerome and Bede.^[3][4] The phrase sine retractatione continued in the Vulgate and in medieval writers such as Bede and Anselm.^[3][4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, in the Philippics, uses sine ulla retractatione.^[2][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of recalling departed friends.^[2][5]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of repeating words.^[2][5]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine titles his review of his own works Retractationes.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A drawing back, hesitation, reluctance (chiefly in sine retractatione).^[2][3]
2. The taking back of one's words, retraction.^[2][4]
3. Repetition (of words).^[2]
4. Re-examination, reconsideration (of a question); recollection.^[2][3]
5. (Late Latin) Revision, correction (of written works).^[3][4]

References

1. ^ a b 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 g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d 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
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de