transcriptio

Forms

trānscrīptiō f (genitive trānscrīptiōnis); third declension^[1] The OLD also records the spelling transscrīptiō.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin trānscrībō + -tiō, a noun of action from the verb meaning “to copy out; to transfer in writing”.^[2][3] The verb is formed with trāns- on scrībō (“to write”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *skreif-e/o- (“to carve”) and Proto-Indo-European *skreibʰ-e/o- (“to carve”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Roman law: the jurist Gaius (140–180 AD) uses it of the transfer of a debt from one person to another.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

In Classical legal language it meant the transfer of ownership or of a debt.^[2][6] A declamation attributed to Quintilian uses it of shifting a crime onto someone else, a reading L&S marks as doubtful.^[5][1]

From the 3rd century it also meant the copying of a text from one manuscript into another: Cyprian and Marius Victorinus use it so.^[6][3][1] This was its usual medieval sense;^[8] Bede uses it of his own works being thought worth copying.^[8] Ecclesiastical Latin keeps both “copy” and “transfer”,^[9] and in Neo-Latin it could also mean a translation.^[10]

Timeline

• 140–180 AD – Gaius uses it of the transfer of a debt.^[5][6][7]
• beginning of 3rd century–258 AD – Cyprian uses it of copying a manuscript.^[6][7]
• first half of 4th century AD – Marius Victorinus speaks of old books of treaties and laws altered by frequent copying.^[3][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) A transfer of ownership, or of a debt to another person.^[2][5][6]
2. The shifting of an offence onto another person.^[5][1]
3. (Late Latin) Transcription, the copying of a text.^[3][1][6][8]
4. (New Latin) A translation.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c 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
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de