Iudicare

Iudicare is a Latin verb meaning to judge, to assess, or to decide, with use ranging from legal decisions to moral or epistemic evaluation. It is built from a common Latin semantic field with iudex (judge) and iudicium (judgment), sharing the iudic- root associated with law and determination. The form appears throughout classical and medieval Latin, and it remains a key basis for later legal and philosophical vocabulary in Romance and English.

Grammatically, iudicare belongs to the first conjugation. Its principal forms include present active iudico, iudicas, iudicat, iudicamus, iudicatis, iudicant; imperfect iudicabas, iudicabat, and perfect iudicavi, iudicavisti, iudicavit, with the supine iudicatum. In syntax it commonly governs a direct object in the accusative (for example, iudicare rem, to judge the matter) and can introduce infinitival clauses to express content of judgment or deliberation.

In usage, iudicare covers judicial decisions, moral judgments, and theoretical assessment. In Roman law and later ecclesiastical and scholastic Latin, it underpins discussions of determining rights, evaluating cases, and forming conclusions. The word family has given rise to numerous derivatives in Latin and the modern languages, including judicial, jurisdictional, and adjudicate, all tracing back to iudicare and its related forms.