transmutatio

Latin

Etymology

trāns- +‎ mūtātiō (or trānsmūtō +‎ -tiō), post-Augustean. First attested in the late 1st century.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /trans.muːˈtaː.ti.oː/, [t̪rä̃ːs̠muːˈt̪äːt̪ioː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /trans.muˈtat.t͡si.o/, [t̪ränzmuˈt̪ät̪ː͡s̪io]

Noun

trānsmūtātiō f (genitive trānsmūtātiōnis); third declension

1. (grammar) transposition
   • c. 35 CE – 100 CE, Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 1.5.39:

     trānsmūtātiōne, quā ōrdō turbātur

     By transposition, by which the order [of words] is confused

2. changing, variability, alteration, transmutation
   • Vulgata—Epistula Jacobi 1.17:

     Omne datum optimum, et omne donum perfectum desursum est, descendens a Patre luminum, apud quem non est transmutatio, nec vicissitudinis obumbratio.

     Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variability, nor shadow of turning.

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	trānsmūtātiō	trānsmūtātiōnēs
genitive	trānsmūtātiōnis	trānsmūtātiōnum
dative	trānsmūtātiōnī	trānsmūtātiōnibus
accusative	trānsmūtātiōnem	trānsmūtātiōnēs
ablative	trānsmūtātiōne	trānsmūtātiōnibus
vocative	trānsmūtātiō	trānsmūtātiōnēs

Related terms

• trānsmūtō

Descendants

• Catalan: transmutació
• English: transmutation
• French: transmutation
• Galician: transmutación
• Italian: trasmutazione
• Portuguese: transmutação
• Russian: трансмутация (transmutacija)
• Spanish: transmutación

References

• “transmutatio”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• transmutatio in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.