pactum

Latin

Etymology 1

From pangō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpaːk.tum/, [ˈpäːkt̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpak.tum/, [ˈpäkt̪um]

Participle

pāctum

1. inflection of pāctus (“fixed, fastened”):
   1. accusative masculine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular

Etymology 2

Originally from pacīscor (“to arrange by negotiation”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ- (“to fix; settle”), whence also pāx (“peace”). Not easily distinguishable from Etymology 1 already in Proto-Indo-European, which might reflect an eventual merger of a split outcome of the same root.

Alternative forms

• pactus, -ūs (Late Latin)

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpak.tum/, [ˈpäkt̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpak.tum/, [ˈpäkt̪um]

Note: uncertainty about derivation likely entailed variation in the length of the /a/; however, vowel reduction in compectum indicates that it was originally short.

Participle

pactum

1. inflection of pactus (“arranged by negotiation, agreed”):
   1. accusative masculine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular

Noun

pactum n (genitive pactī); second declension

1. an agreement, bargain, pact

   Synonyms: compositum, condiciō, stipulātiō

2. (in adverbial expressions) a means, manner, method, consideration

   Synonyms: modus, ratiō, via

   quō pactō possum vīvere sī..? ― how can I live when..?

   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I.32:

     quo pacto ius nostrum adipiscamur

     how we may obtain our right

   • Cicero, In Catilinam I 17:

     Servi mehercule mei si me isto pacto metuerent ut te metuunt omnes cives tui, domum meum relinquendam putarem

     If my servants feared me in such a manner as all your countrymen fear you, I should think that I need to leave my house

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	pactum	pacta
Genitive	pactī	pactōrum
Dative	pactō	pactīs
Accusative	pactum	pacta
Ablative	pactō	pactīs
Vocative	pactum	pacta

Related terms

• compectum
• pactiō
• pactīcius

Descendants

• >? Catalan: pati
• Friulian: pat
• Italian: patto
• Old Occitan: pati, patu
  • Occitan: pati
  • →? Portuguese: pátio
  • →? Spanish: patio
• Old Galician-Portuguese: peito (“tribute”)
  • Galician: peito
• Old Spanish: pecho (“tribute”)
• Sicilian: pattu
• Borrowings:
  • → Bulgarian: пакт (pakt)
  • → Catalan: pacte
  • → Danish: pagt
  • → English: pact
  • → French: pacte (see there for further descendants)
  • → German: Pacht, Pakt
  • → Galician: pacto
  • → Macedonian: пакт (pakt)
  • → Polish: pakt
  • → Portuguese: pacto, pauta
  • → Russian: пакт (pakt)
  • → Spanish: pacto, pauta

References

• “pango, pago, paco” in volume 10, part 1, column 203, line 13 in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present
• “pactum; pactus” on page 1410 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “pangō; pāx”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 442; 452

Further reading

• “pactum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “pactum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• pactum 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)
• pactum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.