cavillatio Latin · revision 33478

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la cavilla}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ka.wɪlˈlaː.ti.oː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ka.vilˈlat.t͡si.o]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cavillātiō''' ''f'' (genitive cavillātiōnis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|cavillor|-tiō|t1=to jest, banter]],^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) and [[m|la|cavillor]] comes from [[m|la|cavilla|t=jesting, banter]].^(Köbler 2010) The origin of that noun is disputed: de Vaan lists it, with a “maybe”, among the derivatives of [[m|la|cavus|t=hollow]], and Wiktionary takes it as “hollow talk”, unrelated to [[m|la|calvor|t=to trick]];^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) the OLD instead derives it from that verb, with an ending like that of [[m|la|favilla]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler and the TLL record it first in Plautus,^(Köbler 2010)^(TLL) who has a parasite list ''cavillātiōnēs, adsentātiunculās ac pēiierātiunculās'', “jokes, little flatteries and little false oaths”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its first sense is banter or raillery.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero describes two kinds of wit, the one spread evenly through a conversation, which the ancients called ''cavillātiō'', and the short sharp kind called ''dicācitās'';^(Lewis & Short 1879) Festus defines it as a joking misrepresentation, and Suetonius uses it in his lives of Tiberius and Vespasian, once of bitter jesting.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Livy says that between the consuls there was more banter than serious dispute about the province.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) From jesting misrepresentation it came to mean sophistry and quibbling, the sense most frequent in Quintilian;^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Seneca cites Cicero for this sense.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Medieval writers in Britain used it of mockery and trickery, and in charters and law of a cavil or captious objection, especially in the formula “without any cavil”.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a parasite's jokes.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero contrasts it with ''dicācitās''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of banter between consuls.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it often of sophistry.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)

+ * c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of bitter jesting.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 1223 – An English record uses it of a captious objection.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|raillery|alt=Raillery]], [[m|en|banter]], jesting, scoffing.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # [[m|en|sophistry|alt=Sophistry]], [[m|en|quibbling]], captiousness.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin, law)'' A [[m|en|cavil]], captious objection.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cavillor]]

+ * [[cavilla]]

+ * [[cavillātor]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}