Exspectatae

Exspectatae is a Latin term derived from the verb exspecto, meaning “to look forward to” or “to anticipate.” In medieval scholastic literature the word was used as a technical adjective to describe propositions, thoughts, or doctrines that were deemed expected or presumed by a particular theological or philosophical framework. Historians of philosophy note that the term frequently appears in the marginalia of works by Thomas Aquinas and Augustine of Hippo, where it signals a claim that is considered a natural or necessary extension of earlier arguments.

The utilization of exspectatae is largely confined to the Middle Ages, especially within debates on the nature of divine revelation and ecclesiastical authority. In the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, some scholars employed the term to critique emerging humanist ideas, arguing that certain modern arguments were “exspectatae” to the medieval canon and thus failed to bring new insight. The concept was rarely adopted by the Renaissance canonists and fell into disuse after the 1600s, with formal dictionaries of Latin only recording it in the context of philosophical discourse.

Today, exspectatae is occasionally cited in academic studies of medieval logic and hermeneutics to illustrate how scholastic thinkers categorized propositions that were assumed to be inevitable outcomes of orthodox doctrine. The term is most often found in specialized Wikis, ecclesiastical anthologies, and indirect classical citations, and typical modern reference works rarely list it as an independent entry.