# dictum
## English
### Etymology

From Latin dictum (“proverb, maxim”), from dictus (“having been said”), perfect passive participle of dico (“I say”). Compare Spanish dicho (“saying”). Doublet of dict.

### Pronunciation

* (UK, US) IPA: /ˈdɪk.təm/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɪktəm

### Noun

dictum (plural dicta or dictums)
* An authoritative statement; a dogmatic saying; a maxim, an apothegm.
** 1949, Bruce Kiskaddon, George R. Stewart, Earth Abides:[…] a dictum which he had heard an economics professor once propound […]
** 1951 July, “British Standard Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 438:1. The utmost in steam producing capacity permitted by weight and dimensions; in other words, capacity to boil water—H. A. Ivatt's old dictum.
** 1992, Arthur Coleman Danto, Beyond the Brillo Box, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 5:But this is not the philosophical revolution of which I speak. What Warhol's dictum amounted to was that you cannot tell when something is a work of art just by looking at it, for there is no particular way that art has to look.
* A judicial opinion expressed by judges on points that do not necessarily arise in the case, and are not involved in it.
* The report of a judgment made by one of the judges who has given it.
* An arbitrament or award.

#### Derived terms

* Aristotle's dictum
* Judd's dictum
* obiter dictum

#### Related terms

* quidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur

#### See also

* ipse dixit

## Latin
### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈdik.tum/, [ˈd̪ɪkt̪ʊ̃ˑ]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈdik.tum/, [ˈd̪ikt̪um]

### Etymology 1

Neuter form of dictus (“said, spoken”), past passive participle of dīcō (“to say, to speak”).

#### Noun

dictum n (genitive dictī); second declension
* a word, saying, something said
* proverb, maxim, saw
* bon mot, witticism
    Synonym: dictērium
* verse, poetry
* a prophecy, prediction
* order, command
* promise, assurance

##### Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

##### Related terms

* dīcō
* dictābolārium
* dictāmen
* dictāta
* dictātiō
* dictātiuncula
* dictātor
* dictātōrius
* dictātrīx
* dictātūra
* dictiō
* dictiōnārium
* dictiōsus
* dictitō
* dictō
* dictus

##### Descendants

* Asturian: dichu
* Friulian: dit
* Judeo-Italian: דִיטוֹ (diṭo /⁠ditto⁠/)
* Italian: detto
* Old French: dit
* Piedmontese: dit
* Spanish: dicho
* Venetan: dito, dit
* → Dutch: dictum (learned)
** → Indonesian: diktum
* → English: dictum (learned)
* → Middle English: dicte
** English: dict
* → German: Diktum (learned)
* → Proto-West Germanic: *diht (see there for further descendants)
* → Norwegian Nynorsk: diktum (learned)
* → Portuguese: dictum (learned)
* → Spanish: dictum (learned)

##### Further reading

* “dictum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “dictum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* dictum 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)
* dictum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. (ambiguous) a short, pointed witticism: breviter et commode dictum (ambiguous) a witticism, bon mot: facete dictum (ambiguous) a far-fetched joke: arcessitum dictum (De Or. 2. 63. 256) (ambiguous) to make jokes on a person: dicta dicere in aliquem (ambiguous) to obey a person's orders: dicto audientem esse alicui (ambiguous) as I said above: ut supra (opp. infra) diximus, dictum est (ambiguous) so much for this subject...; enough has been said on..: ac (sed) de ... satis dixi, dictum est

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Participle

dictum
* inflection of dictus:
** nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular
** accusative masculine singular

#### Verb

dictum
* accusative supine of dīcō

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Noun

dictum n (definite singular dictumet, indefinite plural dicta or dictum, definite plural dicta or dictaa or dictai or dictuma or dictumi)
* (pre-2012) alternative form of diktum

## Polish
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin dictum.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈdik.tum/
* Rhymes: -iktum
* Syllabification: dic‧tum

### Noun

dictum n
* (literary) dictum (authoritative statement)

#### Declension
### Further reading

* dictum in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
* dictum in Polish dictionaries at PWN

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /diɡˈtum/ [d̪iɣ̞ˈt̪ũm]
* Rhymes: -um
* Syllabification: dic‧tum

### Noun

dictum m (plural dictums)
* dictum

### Further reading

* “dictum”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10