multa Latin · revision 31839

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=itc-pro *moltā}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈmʊɫ.ta], [ˈmʊɫ.taː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈmul.ta], [ˈmul.ta]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''multa''' ''f'' (genitive multae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Inscriptions have ''molta''.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)

+ The spelling ''mulcta'' is also found.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*moltā]], a word of the Italic languages.^(Wiktionary) Cognate with [[osc|moltam|t=fine]] and [[xum|motar|t=of a fine]].^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan lists it under [[multus|t=much]]: a fine would be a “quantity” to be paid, but he calls the link not certain.^(de Vaan 2008) Varro, as reported by Gellius, held that the word was Sabine, not Latin, and Paulus' abridgement of Festus says some thought it Oscan.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who has “let this be his fine, that he go without wine for twenty days”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a penalty paid in property, at first in livestock and later in money.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis & Short report that in the oldest times the highest fine was thirty head of cattle and the lowest one sheep, as in the legal formula ''unum ovem multam dico'';^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero speaks of fines in sheep and oxen.^(Lewis & Short 1879) From the beginning it was also used of any penalty, as in Plautus and Catullus.^(OLD 2012) Usual phrases are ''multam dicere'' “to impose a fine”, ''irrogare'' “to propose a fine” and ''committere'' “to incur one”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a penalty.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of fines in sheep and oxen.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a money fine imposed on cities.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * early 15th century – English [[m|en|mulct]] comes from the verb ''mulctāre'', from this noun.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|fine]], a penalty in property or money;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) ''multam dicere'', to impose a fine.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Any [[m|en|penalty]], punishment.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[multātīcius]]

+ * [[multāticus]]

+ * [[multō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|mulct]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Lewis & Short contrast it with [[poena]], which is any kind of punishment, including bodily punishment, prison and death.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}