cautum

Latin

Etymology

Substantivisation of cautus (“protected, guaranteed, stipulated”), past participle of caveō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkau̯.tum/, [ˈkäu̯t̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkau̯.tum/, [ˈkäːu̯t̪um]

Noun

cautum n (genitive cautī); second declension

1. (law, chiefly in the plural) provisions (of a law)
2. (law) a decree
   • c. 69 CE – 122 CE, Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum 1 10:

     [...]; nam cum multiplici undique familia conparata inimicos exterruisset, cautum est de numero gladiatorum, quo ne maiorem cuiquam habere Romae liceret.

     [...]; for he (Caesar) had finally mustered such a great host of them from all parts; of which, his enemies being in great fear, made the senate rule by decree the number of gladiators one might keep beside him in Rome.

3. (Medieval Latin) protected territory, district subject to an immunity

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	cautum	cauta
genitive	cautī	cautōrum
dative	cautō	cautīs
accusative	cautum	cauta
ablative	cautō	cautīs
vocative	cautum	cauta

Adjective

cautum

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

References

• cautum 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)
• Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976) “cautum”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: E. J. Brill, page 161