tributus

Forms

tribūtus (feminine tribūta, neuter tribūtum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

The adjective is from Latin tribus (“tribe”) + -ūtus.^[2][3][4][5] De Vaan follows Weiss in tracing tribus to Proto-Italic *triþu- (“tripartite entity”) and Proto-Indo-European *tri-dʰh₁-u- (“tripartite division”); it is cognate with Umbrian trifu, “district”.^[6]

VOLI and Stelten list the same form as the perfect participle of tribuō (“to divide, bestow”), “bestowed”.^[7][8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in Cicero's speech on the agrarian law, in the phrase comitia tribūta,^[5] and in Livy;^[9][3] Gellius quotes the jurist Laelius Felix on the same term.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word is used almost only of the comitia tribūta, the assembly in which the Roman people voted by tribes:^[4][5] the OLD describes it as the assembly of the plebs (originally the concilium plēbis), and also a similar assembly of the whole people.^[2] Livy uses it twice in his second book.^[4][10] Stelten's dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin gives it the general sense “formed or arranged into tribes”.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the comitia tribūta.^[5][9]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of the tribal assembly.^[4][9]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius quotes Laelius Felix on the comitia tribūta.^[3][4][9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Organized or arranged by tribes;^[2][3][5] comitia tribūta, the Roman assembly voting by tribes.^[2][3][5]

Related words

• tribus
• tribuō
• tribūtum
• tribūtim
• tribūlis

Usage notes

A separate noun tribūtus meant a levy or tax, as in Plautus and Cato;^[2][10] Gellius notes that the old hic tribūtus is what is now called tribūtum.^[2][10] The OLD explains it as perhaps the same adjective, understood as the participle of tribuō, and also gives it the sense of an allotment in an inscription;^[2] Georges and Gaffiot decline it in the fourth declension, tribūtūs.^[4][10]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.