excuso Latin · revision 7832
16 Oct 2026, 14:34 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Plautus|origins=la causa}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ɛkˈskuː.soː]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ekˈskuː.s̬o]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''excūsō''' (present infinitive excūsāre, perfect active excūsāvī, supine excūsātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is from [[ex-]] “out of” and [[causa]] “cause, case”, with the verb suffix [[-ō]], as if “to release from a charge”.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of pleading something as an excuse.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant to excuse, justify a person or conduct, as Cicero's ''aliquem alicui excūsāre'' and in Livy.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) From Plautus it meant to plead as an excuse, ''innocentiam excūsāre'' to plead innocence.^(OLD 2012) In Varro it meant to exempt from a duty, and in Livy reflexively to excuse oneself, decline, in Tacitus to make excuses for refusing, and in Pliny ''diem excūsāre'' to ask a day's grace.^(OLD 2012) In Seneca it meant to absolve.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to excuse, absolve, plead as an excuse.^(Stelten 1995) It survives in Italian ''scusare'', French ''excuser'' and Spanish ''excusar'', and Old French ''escuser'' gave [[en|excuse]] in the mid-13th century.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of pleading an excuse.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of exempting.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of justifying.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * mid-13th century – English ''excuse'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Verb===
+ # To [[m|en|excuse]], justify.^(OLD 2012)
+ # To plead as an excuse.^(OLD 2012)
+ # To exempt.^(OLD 2012)
+ # To excuse oneself, decline.^(OLD 2012)
+ # To absolve.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[excūsābilis]]
+ * [[excūsābundus]]
+ * [[excusamentum]]
+ * [[excūsātiō]]
+ * [[excusator]]
+ * [[inexcūsātus]]
+ * [[subexcuso]]
+ * [[excūsātē]]
+ * [[excūsātus]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[causa]]
+ * [[excūsātiuncula]]
+ * [[accūsō]]
+ * [[en|excuse]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}