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scilicet

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin scīlicet.

Pronunciation

Adverb

scilicet (not comparable)

  1. Namely, to wit, as follows.
    • 1792, Dr. Burn's Law Dictionary, volume 2:
      As in ejectment, where the declaration is of a demise the second of January, and that the defendant afterwards, scilicet, the first of January ejected him, here the scilicet may be rejected, as being contrary to what went before.
  2. (law) Done in the appropriate place within a jurisdiction for the documented act.
  3. (in quotations/citations) Used parenthetically to supply information which is not given in the portion of text being quoted, but is clearly given by its context, such as for quoted pronouns with unquoted antecedents.

Usage notes

Often read out in translation as namely or to wit.

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Latin

Alternative forms

Etymology

A contraction from scīre (“to know”) + licet (“it is permitted”). Literally “it is permitted to know.” Compare īlicet and vidēlicet.

Pronunciation

Adverb

scīlicet (not comparable)

  1. of course, naturally, namely, to wit, evidently, certainly, undoubtedly, no doubt, doubtless, truly
    Optime. Ita scilicet facturam.
    Very good. Of course she will do so.
    Tam ego homo sum quam tu. — Scilicet. Ita res est.
    Nevertheless, I am a man as much as you are. — Of course. So it is.
    A te litteras exspectabam. — Nondum scilicet; nam has mane rescribebam.
    I had been expecting letters from you. — Not yet naturally; for I wrote them back in reply in the morning.
    Nota scilicet illa res.
    That event is surely well known.
    Comites secuti scilicet sunt virginem?
    The associates followed the maiden of course?
    • 166 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Andria 185:
      Simo: Meum gnātum rūmor est amāre.
      Davus: Id populūs cūrat scīlicet.
      Simo: Rumor has it that my son’s having an affair.
      Davus: Well, naturally the nation cares about that.
      (A common comedic trope in Roman plays: the master (Simo) being concerned with familial matters, the clever slave (Davus) offering a sarcastic, cynical, or more realistic perspective.)
    • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 2.577–578:
      “‘Scīlicet haec Spartam incolumis patriāsque Mycēnās / aspiciet [...].’”
      “‘Evidently this [woman], unharmed, will look upon Sparta and Mycenae, her homeland?’”
      (Surprise, indignation, disbelief: Aeneas quotes himself wondering why Helen will survive the fall of Troy and return to Greece.)
  2. (Medieval Latin) that is to say

Usage notes

  • The adverb scilicet is often followed by sed and tamen.
    Cognoscat (orator) rerum gestarum et memoriae veteris ordinem, maxime scilicet nostrae civitatis, sed etiam imperiosorum populorum et regum illustrium.
    The orator knows the row of achievements and the old man's memory, (and) of course, (knows) certainly the row of our citizenship, but also of the mighty peoples and the bright kings.
    Scilicet nimis hic quidem est progressus, sed ex eo ipso est conjectura facilis.
    Of course very much here is at least progress, but from it self is the easy conjecture.
    Maxime scilicet in homine, sed in omni animali.
    Naturally most in men, but in every animal.

Descendants

  • → English: scilicet
  • → Portuguese: scilicet

See also

References

  • “scilicet”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “scilicet”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “scilicet”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • scilicet in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)), Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
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