captiosus Latin · revision 35764

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=la capiō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [kap.tiˈoː.sʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [kap.t͡siˈɔː.s̬us]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''captiōsus''' (feminine captiōsa, neuter captiōsum, comparative captiōsior); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|captiō|-ōsus|t1=deception, sophism]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) That noun, literally “a taking”, comes from [[m|la|capiō|t=to take, catch]], which Etymonline traces to [[ine-pro|*kap-|t=to grasp]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler and the OLD record it first in Cicero,^(Köbler 2010)^(OLD 2012) who in the ''Pro Roscio comoedo'' exclaims at a partnership set up to ensnare one side (''o societatem captiosam et indignam'').^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is used above all of arguments meant to trap an opponent, and Lewis and Short note that it is most frequent in Cicero, who speaks of people “caught and deceived by fallacious and captious questions” (''fallacibus et captiosis interrogationibus'').^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL) It also describes arrangements and actions, and in Cicero's ''Brutus'' it means simply harmful or disadvantageous.^(OLD 2012) The jurists of the Digest speak of a ''captiosum beneficium'' and a ''captiosa liberalitas'', favours that conceal a trap.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for “fallacious, deceitful”.^(Stelten 1995) In British Medieval Latin it describes subtle, sophistical reasoning: Aldhelm writes of the captious conclusions of syllogisms, and later writers of a captious interpretation or a captious logician.^(DMLBS) English borrowed it as ''captious'' around 1400.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a deceptive partnership and of captious questions.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 639–709 AD – Aldhelm writes of captious syllogisms.^(DMLBS)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1400 – English borrows it as ''captious''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Designed to ensnare, [[m|en|captious]], [[m|en|sophistical]];^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) (of a person) given to such arguments.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # (of arrangements or actions) Deceptive, [[m|en|fallacious]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Harmful, disadvantageous.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|captious]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}