dictum

English

Etymology

From Latin dictum (“proverb, maxim”), from dictus (“having been said”), perfect passive participle of dico (“I say”). Compare Spanish dicho (“saying”). Doublet of dict.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪk.təm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪktəm

Noun

dictum (plural dicta or dictums)

1. An authoritative statement; a dogmatic saying; a maxim, an apothegm.
   • 1949, Bruce Kiskaddon, George R. Stewart, Earth Abides:

     […] a dictum which he had heard an economics professor once propound […]

   • 1951 July, “British Standard Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 438:

     1. The utmost in steam producing capacity permitted by weight and dimensions; in other words, capacity to boil water—H. A. Ivatt's old dictum.

   • 1992, Arthur Coleman Danto, Beyond the Brillo Box, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 5:

     But this is not the philosophical revolution of which I speak. What Warhol's dictum amounted to was that you cannot tell when something is a work of art just by looking at it, for there is no particular way that art has to look.

2. A judicial opinion expressed by judges on points that do not necessarily arise in the case, and are not involved in it.
3. The report of a judgment made by one of the judges who has given it.
4. An arbitrament or award.

Derived terms

• Aristotle's dictum
• Judd's dictum
• obiter dictum

 

Related terms

• quidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur

Translations

authoritative statement

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: сенте́нция (bg) f (senténcija), изрече́ние (bg) n (izrečénie)
• Finnish: lausunto (fi)
• French: please add this translation if you can
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Machtspruch m, Diktum (de) n (higher register)
• Greek: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: dictum (pl) n
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: изрече́ние (ru) n (izrečénije), сенте́нция (ru) f (sentɛ́ncija)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

See also

• ipse dixit

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈdik.tum/, [ˈd̪ɪkt̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈdik.tum/, [ˈd̪ikt̪um]

Etymology 1

Neuter form of dictus (“said, spoken”), past passive participle of dīcō (“to say, to speak”).

Noun

dictum n (genitive dictī); second declension

1. a word, saying, something said
2. proverb, maxim, saw
3. bon mot, witticism

   Synonym: dictērium

4. verse, poetry
5. a prophecy, prediction
6. order, command
7. promise, assurance

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	dictum	dicta
genitive	dictī	dictōrum
dative	dictō	dictīs
accusative	dictum	dicta
ablative	dictō	dictīs
vocative	dictum	dicta

Related terms

• dīcō
• dictābolārium
• dictāmen
• dictāta
• dictātiō
• dictātiuncula
• dictātor
• dictātōrius
• dictātrīx
• dictātūra
• dictiō
• dictiōnārium
• dictiōsus
• dictitō
• dictō
• dictus

 

Descendants

• Asturian: dichu
• Friulian: dit
• Judeo-Italian: דִיטוֹ (diṭo /⁠ditto⁠/)
• Italian: detto
• Old French: dit
• Piedmontese: dit
• Spanish: dicho
• Venetan: dito, dit
• → Dutch: dictum (learned)
  • → Indonesian: diktum
• → English: dictum (learned)
• → Middle English: dicte
  • English: dict
• → German: Diktum (learned)
• → Proto-West Germanic: *diht (see there for further descendants)
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: diktum (learned)
• → Portuguese: dictum (learned)
• → Spanish: dictum (learned)

Further reading

• “dictum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “dictum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• dictum 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)
• dictum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) a short, pointed witticism: breviter et commode dictum
    
  • (ambiguous) a witticism, bon mot: facete dictum
    
  • (ambiguous) a far-fetched joke: arcessitum dictum (De Or. 2. 63. 256)
    
  • (ambiguous) to make jokes on a person: dicta dicere in aliquem
    
  • (ambiguous) to obey a person's orders: dicto audientem esse alicui
    
  • (ambiguous) as I said above: ut supra (opp. infra) diximus, dictum est
    
  • (ambiguous) so much for this subject...; enough has been said on..: ac (sed) de ... satis dixi, dictum est
    

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Participle

dictum

1. inflection of dictus:
   1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular
   2. accusative masculine singular

Verb

dictum

1. accusative supine of dīcō

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

dictum n (definite singular dictumet, indefinite plural dicta or dictum, definite plural dicta or dictaa or dictai or dictuma or dictumi)

1. (pre-2012) alternative form of diktum

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin dictum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdik.tum/
• Rhymes: -iktum
• Syllabification: dic‧tum

Noun

dictum n

1. (literary) dictum (authoritative statement)

Declension

Declension of dictum

	singular	plural
nominative	dictum	dicta
genitive	dictum	dictów
dative	dictum	dictom
accusative	dictum	dicta
instrumental	dictum	dictami
locative	dictum	dictach
vocative	dictum	dicta

Further reading

• dictum in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• dictum in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /diɡˈtum/ [d̪iɣ̞ˈt̪ũm]
• Rhymes: -um
• Syllabification: dic‧tum

Noun

dictum m (plural dictums)

1. dictum

Further reading

• “dictum”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy, 2023 November 28