deminutio Latin · revision 32988

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=ine-pro *mi-n(e)-h₁-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''dēminūtiō''' ''f'' (genitive dēminūtiōnis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Manuscripts write it both ''dēm-'' and ''dīm-''.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|dēminuō|-tiō|t1=to lessen]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) That verb is [[m|la|dē-]] with [[m|la|minuō|t=to diminish]], which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*minu-je/o-|t=to lessen]] and a nasal present [[ine-pro|*mi-n(e)-h₁-|t=to make less]], later ⟨*mi-n(e)-u-⟩.^(de Vaan 2008) He compares [[sa|मिनाति|tr=minā́ti|t=to damage, diminish]] and [[grc|μινύθω|tr=minúthō|t=to lessen]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL finds it from Varro, the ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'' and Cicero on.^(TLL) The OLD's first quotation is Varro's, of words made obscure by shortening, as ''deunx'' “eleven twelfths” is an ''as'' with an ounce taken away.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the making smaller of a thing in size or amount: Cicero writes of the waxing and waning of light, of the depletion of citizens, and of a cut in revenues.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In law it is the deduction of money from an estate, and a right to make such a deduction; more generally it is a subtraction, as when Servius Sulpicius writes to Cicero of the great loss to the power of the Roman people.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It is also the lessening of a quality or force, as Cicero's diminution of your liberty, and a loss suffered by a person.^(OLD 2012) The legal phrase ''capitis dēminūtiō'' is the loss of civil rights.^(OLD 2012) In rhetoric the ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'' uses it for understatement, saying less of a fine quality than one has; grammarians use it for the forming of a diminutive.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro of shortening a word.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of waning light and a depletion of citizens.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A making smaller, [[m|en|diminution]], [[m|en|decrease]]; a reduction in number.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(law)'' A deduction of money from an estate, or the right to make one; also a subtraction of anything abstract.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A lessening of force or scope, [[m|en|abatement]]; a loss or injury suffered by a person.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''[[caput|alt=capitis]] dēminūtiō'': loss of civil rights.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(rhetoric)'' [[m|en|understatement|alt=Understatement]];^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) ''(grammar)'' the forming of a [[m|en|diminutive]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[minuo|alt=minuō]]

+ * [[minor]]

+ * [[en|diminution]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}