ascribitur

Ascribitur is a Latin verb form meaning “is attributed” or “is ascribed.” It is the present passive indicative, third person singular, of the verb ascribere, which generally means to attribute, to assign, or to write to a person, origin, or authorship. The sense most common in scholarly and literary Latin is that of origin or authorship being assigned to someone.

In use, ascribitur appears in contexts where the authorship, provenance, or attribution of a work or statement is being indicated. This can involve works whose true authorship is disputed or uncertain, as well as standard statements about attribution in ancient or medieval texts. In many passages the attribution is expressed by placing the name of the presumed author in the genitive or dative, or by placing the work as the subject with the presumed author as the entity to whom it is ascribed. For example, hoc carmen Vergilii ascribitur can be rendered in English as “This poem is ascribed to Virgil” and in Latin can be used to indicate the traditional or contested attribution of the work.

The form is a frequent fixture in critical editions, commentaries, and discussions of authorship, where precise attribution is sometimes debated. It sits among verbs and constructions that express attribution, alongside terms like creditur or putatur, and it reflects a broader Latin practice of naming authorship or origin within the sentence structure itself.

Etymologically, ascribitur derives from ascribere, a compound of scribere (to write) with a prefix that conveys addition or assignment, conveying the sense of writing ascribed to someone or something.