Etymologically
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tractatio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [trakˈtaː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [trakˈtat.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

tractātiō f (genitive tractātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin tractō (“to handle”) + -tiō.[2][1] De Vaan explains tractō as derived from tractus, the past participle of trahō (“to draw, drag”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *traχe/o-.[3] Its closest cognates are Celtic, such as Old Irish tráig (“ebb, beach”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[4] who says that people who want to play the lyre or the flute learn how to handle them from musicians, not from soothsayers: earum tractationem.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is the physical handling or treatment of something, as Vitruvius' colours made by processing other substances,[2] and the management of living creatures, as in Cicero's De officiis on the handling of beasts that is useful to men.[2] Mala tractātiō is maltreatment of a wife, children or dependants, as a charge in the elder Seneca's declamations.[2] It is also the treatment or handling of non-physical things and the consideration or discussion of a subject:[2] Cicero says the study of literature was itself a help to him.[2] In rhetoric it is the handling of a case or theme, as in the Rhetorica ad Herennium.[2] In Church Latin it is a treatise or treatment,[6] and Wiktionary gives also the senses conduct, behaviour.[1]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of handling instruments and of the study of literature.[5][2][4]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius, of processing materials into colours.[2][4]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – the elder Seneca, of maltreatment.[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Physical handling, manipulation.[2][1]
  2. The management or handling of living creatures;[2] mala tractātiō, maltreatment.[2]
  3. Treatment, handling (of things or matters).[2][5][1]
  4. Consideration, discussion (of a subject); (rhetoric) the handling of a case or theme.[2]
  5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A treatise.[6]
  6. Conduct, behaviour.[1]

Word family

  • maletractatio

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson