# ab initio
## English
### Alternative forms

* ab init

### Etymology

From Latin ab (“from”) + initiō, ablative singular of initium (“beginning”).

### Pronunciation

* (US) IPA: /ˌæb ɪˈnɪʃ.i.oʊ/, /ˌæb əˈnɪt.i.oʊ/, /ˌɑb əˈnɪt.i.oʊ/

### Adverb

ab initio
* (law) From the time when a law, legal right or decree, contract, ownership interest, partnership (etc.) comes into force. [Early 17th century.]
** 2007, Parliament of India, “Section 14”, in Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006‎, page 4:Any child marriage solemnised in contravention of an injunction order issued under section 13, whether interim or final, shall be void ab initio.
* (sciences) Calculated from first principles, i.e. from basic laws without any further additional assumptions.
** 1983, Monty Python, The meaning of life, at about 1h 15':
    […] this soul does not exist ab initio, as orthodox Christianity teaches; it has to be brought into existence by a process of guided self-observation. However, this is rarely achieved, owing to man's unique ability to be distracted from spiritual matters by everyday trivia.
* (of an academic course) Taken with no prior qualifications.

#### Translations
### References

* ↑ http://karnatakajudiciary.kar.nic.in/hcklibrary/PDF/Blacks%20Law%206th%20Edition%20-%20SecA.pdf Black's Law Dictionary, 6th Edition (1990) Ab initio: Lat. From the beginning; from the first act; from the inception. An agreement is said to be "void ab initio" if it has at no time had any legal validity. A party may be said to be a trespasser, an estate said to be good, an agreement or deed said to be void, or a marriage or act said to be unlawful, ab initio. Contrasted in this sense with ex post facto, or with postea.
* ↑ Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “ab initio”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 4.
* ↑ Black's Law Dictionary

## German
### Alternative forms

* a. i., ab in., ab init. (abbreviation)

### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ab initiō (“from the beginning”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ap iˈniːt͡si̯o/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: ab ini‧tio

### Adverb

ab initio
* ab initio

### References

* “ab initio” in Duden online

## Indonesian
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin ab initiō (“from the beginning”).

### Adverb

ab initio
* ab initio

### Further reading

* “ab initio” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

## Spanish
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin ab initiō (“from the beginning”).

### Adverb

ab initio
* ab initio

#### Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

### Further reading

* “ab initio”, 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