furtum

Latin

Alternative forms

• fūrtus (Late Latin)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *bʰṓr

Proto-Italic *fōr

Latin fūr

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Italic *-tos

Latin -tus

Latin furtum

From fūr (“thief”) + -tus (forming participles), literally “a stolen thing”, as if built on a genuine verb, compare other fūr derivatives as well as those of ūber.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈfuːr.tũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈfur.tum]

Noun

fūrtum n (genitive fūrtī); second declension

1. a theft, robbery

   Near-synonyms: latrocinium, raptum

   alicui fūrtum facere ― to rob someone

   • c. 211 BCE, Plautus, Rudens 4.3.15:

     Audi.
     Furtum ego vidi qui faciebat;
     noram dominum, id cui fiebat,
     post ad furem egomet devenio
     feroque ei condicionem hoc pacto:
     'ego istuc furtum scio cui factum est;
     nunc mihi si vis dare dimidium,
     indicium domino non faciam.'

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de bello Gallico VI.16:

     Supplicia eorum qui in furto aut in latrocinio aut aliqua noxia sint comprehensi gratiora dis immortalibus esse arbitrantur; sed, cum eius generis copia defecit, etiam ad innocentium supplicia descendunt.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • Vulgata—Exodus 20.15:

     Non furtum facies.

     Thou shalt not steal.

   • 493 CE – 526 CE, Edictum Theodorici Regis 118:

     Si propter furtum servi dominus conventus furem ipsum magis tradere, quam defendere eum in iudicio voluerit, illa etiam quae ad eum ex ipso furtu pervenisse constiterit, pariter debebit exsolvere.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. thieving, the act of robbing
   • 574 CE – 593 CE, Gregorius Turonensis, Historia Francorum V.18. De Praetextato episcopo et interitu Merovechi:

     Nobis quoque respondentibus [episcopis], quis ille sacerdus esset, cuius furti crimen inrogaretur, respondit rex: 'Vidistis enim species, quas nobis furtu abstulit'.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 731 CE, Beda Presbyter, Historia ecclesiastica Liber Primus.27.III:

     Obsecro, quid pati debeat, siquis aliquid de ecclesia furtu abstulerit? […] Addes etiam, quomodo ea, quae furtu de ecclesiis abstulerint, reddere debeant.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. a stolen thing
   • 70 BCE, Cicero, In Verrem II.2.21:

     […] ; Canuleius vero, qui in portu Syracusis operas dabat, furta quoque istius permulta nominatim ad socios perscripserat, ea quae sine portorio Syracusis erant exportata; […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 35 BCE, Horatius, Sermones 2.4.79:

     Magna movet stomacho fastidia, seu puer unctis
     tractavit calicem manibus, dum furta ligurrit,
     sive gravis veteri creterrae limus adhaesit.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

4. (transferred senses) any secret action:
   1. an excuse or pretext
      • 62 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Epistulae ad familiares 16.26:

        […] sic tu, etiamsi, quod scribas, non habebis, scribito tamen, ne furtum cessationis quaesivisse videaris; valde enim mihi semper et vera et dulcia tuis epistulis nuntiantur.

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   2. crafty deceit, trick, artifice, stratagem
      • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 10.734–735:

        […] ; obvius aduersoque occurrit seque viro uir
        contulit, haud furto melior sed fortibus armis.

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

      • 8 CE, Ovidius, Metamorphoses 13.103–104:

        Quo tamen haec Ithaco, qui clam, qui semper inermis
        rem gerit et furtis incautum decipit hostem?

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   3. (chiefly in the plural) stolen or secret love, intrigue
      • c. 37 BCE – 30 BCE, Vergilius, Georgicon 4.345–346:

        Inter quas curam Clymene narrabat inanem
        Vulcani Martisque dolos et dulcia furta, […]

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

      • 8 CE, Ovidius, Metamorphoses 1.601–606:

        Intereā mediōs Iūnō despexit in Argōs
        et noctis faciem nebulās fēcisse volūcrēs
        sub nitidō mīrāta diē, nōn flūminis illās
        esse, nec ūmentī sensit tellūre remittī;
        atque suus coniunx ubi sit circumspicit, ut quae
        dēprensī totiēns iam nosset furta marītī.

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	fūrtum	fūrta
genitive	fūrtī	fūrtōrum
dative	fūrtō	fūrtīs
accusative	fūrtum	fūrta
ablative	fūrtō fūrtū	fūrtīs
vocative	fūrtum	fūrta

NB: fūrtū is found in Late Latin and early Medieval Latin.

Derived terms

• fūrtīvus

Descendants

• Aromanian: furtu
• Catalan: furt
• Galician: furto
• Italian: furto
• Occitan: furt
• Portuguese: furto
• Romanian: furt
• Old Spanish: furto
  • Spanish: hurto
• Sicilian: furtu

Noun

fūrtum

1. accusative singular of fūrtus

References

• “furtum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “furtum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "furtum", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “furtum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “furtum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “furtum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin