coemptio Latin · revision 36480

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''coēmptiō''' ''f'' (genitive coēmptiōnis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Glossaries have a contracted form ''comptiō''.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|coemō|-tiō]],^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) from [[m|la|coemō|t=to buy up]], a compound of [[m|la|con-]] and [[m|la|emō|t=to buy]];^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) Wiktionary analyses it as the same prefix and [[m|la|emptiō|t=purchase]].^(Wiktionary) The verb [[m|la|emō|alt=emō]] goes back to [[itc-pro|*eme/o-|t=to take]] and [[ine-pro|*h1em-e/o-|t=to take]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cicero is the first to use it,^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010) in the speech for Murena and elsewhere, as a legal term for a fictitious [[m|en|sale]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Roman law it was one of the three ways in which a wife passed into her husband's ''[[manus]]'', a symbolic purchase made before five witnesses and a scale-holder.^(Georges 1913)^(TLL) Lewis & Short take Cicero's use in the speech for Murena as a mock sale of an estate to free it from the sacred rites attached to it.^(Lewis & Short 1879) A woman could also make a ''coemptio'' with a man who was not her husband, “for the sake of trust”, in order to change her guardian.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) The jurist Gaius describes it, but it is missing from the jurists excerpted in the Digest,^(TLL) and Servius says that Virgil alludes to it in the ''Aeneid''.^(TLL)

+

+ In Late Latin it meant buying up: the Theodosian Code uses it of the compulsory purchase of grain for the state, the Vulgate of buying up slaves, and Boethius of a [[m|en|monopoly]].^(Georges 1913)^(Conte 2010) Medieval Latin used it for a purchase, compulsory [[m|en|purveyance]] or requisition, [[m|en|forestalling]], a feudal relief and the redemption of a due.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero mentions the mock sale in his speeches.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 140–180 AD – Gaius describes the marriage by ''coemptio'' in his ''Institutes''.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of buying up slaves.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 400 AD – Servius explains Virgil's allusion to it.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * Middle Ages – It means a purchase, a requisition and the redemption of a due.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(law)'' A fictitious sale of a woman to a man, by which she passed into his power at marriage, or into the power of another man in order to change guardians.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Late Latin)'' A buying up; a compulsory purchase of grain for the state; a [[m|en|monopoly]].^(Georges 1913)^(Conte 2010)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|purchase]]; a requisition; forestalling; a relief; the redemption of a due.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[coemptiōnātor]]

+ * [[comptiōnālis]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}