tergiversatio

Latin

Etymology

From tergiversor (“tergiversate, turn one's back, avoid”) +‎ -tiō (“-tion: forming abstract nouns”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ter.ɡi.u̯erˈsaː.ti.oː/, [t̪ɛrɡiu̯ɛrˈs̠äːt̪ioː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ter.d͡ʒi.verˈsat.t͡si.o/, [t̪erd͡ʒiverˈsät̪ː͡s̪io]

Noun

tergiversātiō f (genitive tergiversātiōnis); third declension

1. subterfuge, tergiversation

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	tergiversātiō	tergiversātiōnēs
Genitive	tergiversātiōnis	tergiversātiōnum
Dative	tergiversātiōnī	tergiversātiōnibus
Accusative	tergiversātiōnem	tergiversātiōnēs
Ablative	tergiversātiōne	tergiversātiōnibus
Vocative	tergiversātiō	tergiversātiōnēs

Related terms

• tergiversor

Descendants

• English: tergiversation
• French: tergiversation

References

• “tergiversatio”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “tergiversatio”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• tergiversatio 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)
• tergiversatio in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “tergiversatio”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers