Latin

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From arbiter +‎ -ium.

Noun

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arbitrium n (genitive arbitriī or arbitrī); second declension

  1. the decision of an arbiter, arbitration
  2. judgement, decision, opinion
  3. discretion, liberal decision; arbitrary decision, whim
  4. mastery, dominion, authority
    Synonyms: potestās, imperium, auctōritās, diciō

Declension

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Second-declension noun (neuter).

singular plural
nominative arbitrium arbitria
genitive arbitriī
arbitrī1
arbitriōrum
dative arbitriō arbitriīs
accusative arbitrium arbitria
ablative arbitriō arbitriīs
vocative arbitrium arbitria

1Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Descendants

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The forms that reflect /ī/ as opposed to the expected /i/ may be due to yod metathesis (/idrju > ijdru/), or indicate borrowings.

  • Catalan: albir
  • Old French: arvoire (illusion; doubt)
  • Leonese: albidru (reasoning)
  • Old Occitan: albire (imagination, thought)
  • Portuguese: alvedrio (free will), alvitre (suggestion, advice)
  • Spanish: albedrío (will)
  • Sicilian: arbitru (tool, contrivance)
  • French: arbitre
  • Italian: arbitrio
  • Portuguese: arbítrio
  • Spanish: arbitrio

References

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  • arbitrium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • arbitrium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • arbitrium in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • arbitrium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • the decision of the question rests with you: penes te arbitrium huius rei est
    • to put the matter entirely in some one's hands: arbitrio alicuius omnia permittere
    • to put the matter entirely in some one's hands: omnium rerum arbitrium alicui permittere
    • just as you wish: arbitratu, arbitrio tuo
    • to be at the beck and call of another; to be his creature: totum se fingere et accommodare ad alicuius arbitrium et nutum
    • to come before the tribunal of the critics: in existimantium arbitrium venire (Brut. 24. 92)
    • aristocracy (as a form of government): civitas, quae optimatium arbitrio regitur