English
ipse dixit
Ipse dixit comes from Latin ipse dīxit ‘he himself said it’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEipse dīxit‘he himself said it’
- Englishearliest quotation 1749ipse dixit
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEipse dīxit‘he himself said it’
- Englishearliest quotation 1749ipse dixit
Earliest quotation: 1749, Henry Fielding, Of the Serious in Writing; and for What Purpose It Is Introd: “To, avoid, therefore, all Imputation of laying down a…”
Made of the words ipse + dixit
Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- ‘to offer’
Sanskrit दीक्ष् ‘to consecrate’
Sanskrit दीक्षित ‘consecrated’
English dixit
The story
Originally used by the followers of Pythagoreanism, who claimed this or that proposition to be uttered by Pythagoras himself. Extended during the Middle Ages to the statements of Aristotle, and more famously used in such contexts.
Every English word from Latin ipse dīxit
Today it means
noun A dogmatic and unproved proposition or dictum that is accepted solely on the authority of someone who is known to have asserted it.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin ipse dīxit / ipse dixit