arbitrium

Latin

Alternative forms

• arbiterium

Etymology

From arbiter +‎ -ium.

Noun

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

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	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

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”)
  • Occitan: aubire
• Portuguese: alvedrio (“free will”), alvitre (“suggestion, advice”)
• Spanish: albedrío (“will”)
• Sicilian: arbitru (“tool, contrivance”)
• → French: arbitre
• → Italian: arbitrio
• → Portuguese: arbítrio
• → Spanish: arbitrio

References

• “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