exsecutae

Exsecutae is a term found in a small number of Latin-language manuscripts from late antiquity and the medieval period. The word is not attested as a common noun or a widely used name, and its meaning remains uncertain. In many cases, exsecutae appears only in marginal notes or glosses, leading scholars to treat it as a scribal form or a proper name rather than a stable lexical item.

Origin and form: The form appears to derive from the Latin verb exsequor, “to follow through, to perform, to execute,” through the past participle exsecutus and its feminine plural exsecutae. Some manuscript traditions render the form as exsecutae, which modern editors often normalize to exsecutae or exsecutae. The lack of consensus over spelling suggests scribal transmission rather than a distinct lexical category.

Historical usage: In the few surviving references, exsecutae is used either as a self-contained proper name for a small community or as a procedural label in lists of people who have completed a duty. Because the context is fragmentary, interpreters caution against overreading the term.

Modern reception: Exsecutae has little place in standard Latin lexica or in modern discussions of Roman law, religion, or ethnography. When it appears in academic work, it is typically to illustrate issues of manuscript transmission or to discuss possible misreadings of exsequiae or related terms.

See also: exsequiae; exsequor; exsecutus.