mendacium Latin · revision 31095

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=itc-pro *mendo-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [mɛnˈdaː.ki.ũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [menˈdaː.t͡ʃi.um]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mendācium''' ''n'' (genitive mendāciī or mendācī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from [[m|la|mendāx|t=lying]] with the suffix [[m|la|-ium]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) ⟨Mendāx⟩ belongs with [[m|la|mendum|t=fault, blemish]], which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*mendo-]], perhaps cognate with [[sga|mind|t=sign, mark]]; he mentions a link with the root of “to think” only as a theoretical possibility.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler gives Plautus as its first author,^(Köbler 2010) as “if I tell a lie” in the ''Amphitruo''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a lie or falsehood, as Plautus' “to tell someone a lie” and Cicero's “to deceive by a lie”, and also a fiction, as Ovid's lies of poets and of rumour.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It is also a false impression or illusion, as Cicero's error that lies “in opinion, not in the eyes”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ The word was used in the Bible, councils and Germanic law codes.^(Köbler 2010) Church Latin glosses it “lie, untruth, lying, falsehood”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of telling a lie.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of a false impression.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of poets' fictions.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|lie]], untruth, [[m|en|falsehood]]; a fiction.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A false impression, [[m|en|illusion]], counterfeit.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[mendāciloquus]]

+ * [[mendāciunculum]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mendāciloquium]]

+ * [[mendācitās]]

+ * [[mendāciter]]

+ * [[mendāx]]

+ * [[mendum]]

+ * [[en|mendacity]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}