fiscus

See also: Fiscus

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fiscus (“treasury”).

Noun

fiscus (plural fisci)

1. A government treasury.
   • 1998, Klára Oppenheim, Jenny Power, Hungarian Business Law, →ISBN, page 46:

     It generally applies to all taxes, stamp duties or other compulsory payments to state funds or local governments as well as any subsidies received from the central fiscus or state funds as long as the administration thereof is provided by the Tax and Financial Supervision Authority.

   • 1999, Ludwig von Bar, A History of Continental Criminal Law, →ISBN, page 18:

     Furthermore, it is shown by the fact that the State treasury (" fiscus ") could not be made a party to an action, and also, later, by the absolute power of the emperor.

   • 2002, Sue Eleanor Headlee, A Year Inside the Beltway: Making Economic Policy in Washington, →ISBN:

     For the first time in more than 30 years, the American fiscus was in a healthy state in the Fall of 2000.

   • 2012, Cees Bruggemans, Elsebe' Loots, Economic Perspectives: Ruiterbosch Essays in honour of Peet Strydom, →ISBN:

     The soundness of the fiscal position enabled government to respond aggressively to the recent global financial crisis by raising spending and debt without compromising the long run sustainability of the fiscus.

Latin

Etymology

Unknown. De Vaan rejects connections with findō (“I cleave”) and fidēlia (“earthen pot”); Beekes mentions obliquely the rhyme with rarer riscus, a likely Celtic borrowing into Latin and Greek.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈfis.kus/, [ˈfɪs̠kʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfis.kus/, [ˈfiskus]

Noun

fiscus m (genitive fiscī); second declension

1. basket
2. purse
3. treasury, public money
4. (Imperial period) the assets bound to the function of the emperor, as distinguished from the state-bound assets called aerārium and the emperor’s private property inherited to his private heirs patrimōnium

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	fiscus	fiscī
Genitive	fiscī	fiscōrum
Dative	fiscō	fiscīs
Accusative	fiscum	fiscōs
Ablative	fiscō	fiscīs
Vocative	fisce	fiscī

Descendants

• Catalan: fisc
• → English: fisc
• French: fisc
• Galician: fisco
• → German: Fiskus
• Italian: fisco
• Portuguese: fisco
• Romanian: fisc
• → Russian: фиск (fisk)
• Spanish: fisco

References

• “fiscus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “fiscus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• fiscus 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)
• fiscus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “fiscus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “fiscus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin