pactum

Latin

Etymology 1

From pangō.

Pronunciation

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

Participle

pāctum

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

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.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpak.tum/, [ˈpäkt̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpak.tum/, [ˈpäkt̪um]
• Note: the derivational confusion likely entailed uncertainty about the length of the -a-; nevertheless the vowel reduction in compectum indicates its original shortness.

Participle

pactum

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

Noun

pactum n (genitive pactī); second declension

1. an agreement, bargain, pact
2. (in adverbial expressions) a means, manner, method, consideration

   Synonyms: modus, ratiō, via

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

   • Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I, 32:

     quo pacto ius nostrum adipiscamur

     how we may obtain our right

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

Alternative forms

• pactus, -ūs (Late Latin)

Related terms

• compectum
• pactiō
• pactīcius

Descendants

• → Bulgarian: пакт (pakt)
• Catalan: pacte, pati (possibly)
• → Danish: pagt
• → English: pact
• French: pacte
• Friulian: pat
• Galician: peito, pacto

• → German: Pacht, Pakt
• Italian: patto
• → Macedonian: пакт (pakt)
• Occitan: pati
• → Polish: pakt
• Portuguese: pacto, pauta
• → Russian: пакт (pakt)
• Sicilian: pattu
• Spanish: pacto, pauta, patio (possibly)

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