approbationes

Approbationes is the Latin plural noun corresponding to approbatio, meaning acts of official approval or endorsement issued by an authority. In Latin texts, approbationes denotes multiple such acts and is commonly found in charters, legal records, ecclesiastical decrees, and scholastic documents. The verb underlying the term is approbo, to approve or sanction.

Historically, approbationes were used to attest that a text, privilege, or policy had received sanctioned approval from a competent authority—such as a bishop, a university rector, a royal chancery, or a civil governor. They might appear as formal endorsements within decrees, licenses, or lists of approved works, and could accompany publications, grants, or the execution of duties.

Today, the plural term approbationes appears mainly in discussions of Latin sources or translations. In English, approbation (singular) is the common word for formal approval; the Latin plural is encountered chiefly when scholars quote or interpret source documents. Related concepts in modern usage include imprimatur and nihil obstat, which denote specific types of publishing approvals.

Related terms include approval, endorsement, ratification, imprimatur, and nihil obstat.