Latin: condicio or conditio sine qua non?

[Leon Monné]

Is it 'condicio' or 'conditio' sine qua non - or, if both possible,
which is best?
Thanks for response
Leon Monné
<ldm...@pi.net>

[SPBurris]

During the middle ages, "c" was sometimes used before "i" instead of "t".
This reflects the way the two letters were approaching each other in sound
before front vowels. (Imagine a "ts" sound.) Using "c" would definitely
make the word look like later Latin.

--
SPBurris at Cornell University
Greek, Latin and bagpipes!

[BillRudersdorf]

Conditio is classical Latin, condicio is medieval. Choose according
to context.
Mike Skupin
Sku...@aol.com

[Edwin P. Menes]

Both Lewis & Short and the OLD opt for *condicio* as the Classical form.
It is a derivative of the verb *condico*, not of *condo*.

Ed Menes

[Daan Sandee]

However, in modern times, I have never seen the phrase spelled other than
"conditio sine qua non", and this alternative spelling dates from classical
times as well. But I agree that the etymologically justified spelling is
"condicio".

Daan Sandee san...@think.com
Burlington, MA

[Edwin P. Menes]

True that *conditio sine qua non* is the only modern form, but it's a
Medieval formulation. Classical Latin would never put those four words
together like that. It's rather like *A posse ad esse non valet
illatio*--perfectly good Classical words used as no one in Classical
times would use them.

As for *conditio* being a Classical spelling for the word in this meaning,
I'd have to see it on a stone. Manuscripts show all kinds of Medieval
spellings in transcribing Classical works (and words). The word spelled
*conditio* meant `condiment, food preservative', but the spelling of both
words in modern editions of Classical authors is determined more by
scholarly opinion than by the letter of the manuscripts.

Ed Menes