Etymologically
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solutio

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [sɔˈɫuː.ti.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [soˈlut.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

solūtiō f (genitive solūtiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from solvō “to loosen, release, pay” with the suffix -tiō.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Varro, of giving money in payment.[2] Köbler's first source is Cicero; he dates Varro 116–27 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it rare but classical.[3] It meant an unfastening of knots, the unbinding of a prisoner, as in Seneca, and in Cicero solūtiō linguae freedom of the tongue, fluency.[2][5] It meant the breaking up of a structure, dissolution, as Cicero's dissolution of the whole man, and in Pliny a looseness of the bowels.[2][3] From Cicero it meant the payment of a debt, and in Quintilian the fulfilment of a bargain, and Gellius uses it of the solving of a puzzle.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant dissolution, freedom, loosening, payment.[6] Medieval Latin used it of the remission of sins, deliverance, death, and wergild.[7] English solution came in the late 14th century through Old French, of an explanation and of the dissolving of a substance.[8]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of payment.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of dissolution and of paying debts.[2][4]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of solving a puzzle.[2][4]
  • late 14th century – English solution is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An unfastening; a release, solūtiō linguae, fluency.[2]
  2. Looseness of the bowels.[2]
  3. Dissolution.[2]
  4. The solution of a puzzle.[2]
  5. Payment of a debt; fulfilment of a bargain.[2]
  6. (Medieval Latin) Remission of sins; death; wergild.[7]

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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com