vindicta Latin · revision 689

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [wɪnˈdɪk.ta]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [vinˈdik.ta]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vindicta''' ''f'' (genitive vindictae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is related to [[vindico|alt=vindicāre]] “to claim”.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) The OLD takes it as probably a back-formation from the accusative phrase [[m|la|vim dictam|t=ownership asserted]], from [[vis|alt=vīs]] “force” and the participle of [[dico|alt=dīcere]] “to declare”; de Vaan likewise derives [[vindex]] from [[m|la|vim dīcit|t=he declares force]].^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008) Lewis and Short, Georges and Köbler derive it directly from ''vindicāre''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Plautus onwards,^(Köbler 2010) in whom a slave, asked when he will be set free, is told “prepare the [[m|en|manumission]] ceremony with that word: if you love her, buy her”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was the legal act by which a person claimed as free someone held as a slave, touching him with a rod (''vindictam imponere''), and so a form of manumission, as in Cicero's list of ways to be freed: by the census, by the ''vindicta'' or by will.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Many writers took the word for the rod itself.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) By extension it meant the assertion of liberty, as in Livy.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ From the Augustan age it meant vengeance, retribution or punishment, as when Ovid's lover says revenge will ease his grief.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In medieval Latin it meant a private war or feud, wergeld, and criminal jurisdiction, especially over capital crimes.^(Niermeyer 1976) It gave Italian ''vendetta'' “blood feud”, borrowed into English in 1846, and [[en|vindictive]] was formed from it.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for the manumission ceremony.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero lists it among the ways a slave is freed.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it for the assertion of liberty and for punishment.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it for revenge.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * Middle Ages – It means a feud and criminal jurisdiction.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+ * 1846 – Its Italian descendant enters English as [[en|vendetta]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(law)'' The formal claim of a slave's freedom, [[m|en|manumission]]; the rod used in it.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Assertion, defence (of liberty).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # [[m|en|vengeance|alt=Vengeance]], retribution, punishment.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A feud; wergeld; criminal jurisdiction.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vindicō]]

+ * [[vindex]]

+ * [[en|vendetta]]

+ * [[en|vindictive]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}