Categoricus

Categoricus is a Latin adjective meaning “of or pertaining to a category or categorization.” In classical and medieval Latin, it was used to translate Greek terms related to category and to describe logical relations in Aristotelian and scholastic works as “categorical.”

Etymology: The word derives from Latin categoricus, formed with the root category and the suffix -icus, ultimately tracing to the Greek katēgoria (category) via Latin. The sense aligns with the general notion of class membership or fixed predicates.

Philosophical and logical usage: In logic and ontology, categoricus appeared in scholarly Latin translations of Aristotle and later scholastic writers to denote “categorical” propositions or terms—statements that assert a universal or fixed relationship, rather than contingent or hypothetical ones. The term thus reflects a historical labeling of categorical reasoning within the classical syllogistic tradition.

Contemporary usage: Outside classical texts, categoricus is rarely used in modern technical jargon; when encountered in translations or historical discussions, it marks the Latin heritage of terms like “categorical.” In some modern writings, it may be employed to label classification-based concepts in a Latinized or pseudo-Latin form, particularly in discussions of categorization theory or data classification as a historical or mnemonic device rather than as a current standard term.

See also: category, categorization, categorical proposition, Aristotelian logic.