subiectus

Forms

subiectus (feminine subiecta, neuter subiectum, comparative subiectior); first/second-declension adjective^[1] Seneca scans it as four syllables, sŭbĭect-.^[1] It is also spelled subjectus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is the participle of subiciō (“to throw under, place under”), used as an adjective.^[1][2][3] That verb is sub- (“under”) with iaciō (“to throw”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *jak-i- (“to throw”) and a present Proto-Indo-European *(H)ih₁-k- (“to throw, let go”).^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἵημι (híēmi, “to send, throw”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[5] who in a letter to his brother writes of a heated room placed beneath the bedrooms.^[1]

Semantic evolution

It means lying under or lower, and also close at hand or adjacent, as a country bordering a kingdom in the Bellum Alexandrinum.^[1] Cicero uses it of things within the reach of the senses and of a sea exposed to the winds; later it is liable to a tax.^[1] Apuleius has subiecta materia, matter subject to shaping, a translation of Aristotle's term for matter.^[1] It also means subordinate or subject to a person or state, as Livy's “let us be as subject as the Thessalians and Aetolians”;^[1] Columella uses the masculine as a noun for subordinates, and Ovid of a submissive bearing.^[1] In rhetoric it is placed under a heading.^[1]

In medieval Latin it means submissive, obedient or subjugated, and as a noun a subject, dependant or assistant.^[6] English subject (early 14th century, via Old French) comes from the noun use of the Latin participle.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a room lying beneath and of things open to the senses.^[1][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of peoples subject to a power.^[1][5]
• 1st century AD – Columella of a bailiff's subordinates.^[1][5]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius of matter subject to shaping.^[1][5]
• early 14th century – English borrows subject through Old French.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Lying under, subjacent; adjacent.^[1][2]
2. Within the reach of the senses.^[1]
3. Exposed to an influence; liable to a tax.^[1]
4. Subject to an operation or treatment;^[1] subiecta materia, matter.^[1]
5. Subordinate, subject to a person or state; submissive.^[1][6]
6. Placed under a category or heading.^[1]

Noun

1. A subordinate, dependant; in the plural, subjects of a ruler.^[1][6][3]
2. (Medieval Latin) An assistant, inferior.^[6]

Related words

• subiciō
• subiectiō
• English subject

Usage notes

A rare fourth-declension noun subiectus, -ūs, the application or placing of something underneath, occurs in Pliny the Elder.^[1][2][5] Medieval Latin also has a fourth-declension noun meaning a subject or theme.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
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 e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com