Where does “justice” come from?
Justice comes from Middle English justice, from Old French justise, from Latin iustitia, derived from the adjective iustus meaning just or righteous, with the abstract noun suffix -ia.
justice (English): The state or characteristic of being just or...
Definitions
- The state or characteristic of being just or...
Ancestry of “justice”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | justice | — |
| 2 | Old French | justise | revenge; retribution; justice; fairness; equality |
| 3 | Old French | justice | Alternative form of justise |
| 4 | Latin | iūstitia | justice, fairness, equity |
| 5 | Latin | iūstus | just, righteous |
| 6 | Latin | iūs | law, right |
| 7 | Latin | dīcō | to say, talk, speak, utter, mention |
| 8 | Latin | -tiō | tion, -ation, -ing |
| 9 | Latin | dissertātiō | (spoken) dissertation, discourse, disquisition |
| 10 | Latin | dissertus | arranged, disposed; explained |
| 11 | Latin | disserere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 12 | Latin | dis- | asunder, apart, in two; reversal, removal;... |
| 13 | Latin | calceus | shoe |
| 14 | Latin | calx | limestone; chalk; the finish line |
| 15 | Ancient Greek | χάλιξ | small stone, pebble; gravel, rubble |