sententia

Sententia is a Latin noun with several related meanings. It can denote a judgment or opinion, the sentence of a court, or a short, memorable statement used to illustrate a point in rhetoric and literature.

Originating from the verb sentire ("to think, feel"), sententia carries the sense of a considered proposition or verdict. In Latin texts it can refer to a personal stance, a formal decision, or a proposition stated as a thesis.

In rhetoric, a sententia is a concise, pithy maxim or apothegm designed to seize the audience or to frame an argument. Classical authors such as Cicero and Quintilian are associated with the use of sententiae in speeches, and the form continued into medieval and humanist writing.

In law, sententia historically meant the judgment or sentence pronounced by a tribunal. In Roman law it described the court's decision; in modern legal language the word survives in Latin or is translated as "sentenza" in Italian, "sentencia" in Spanish, signifying a formal judicial ruling rather than a general statement.

Medieval theology incorporated the word as well: the Libri Quattuor Sententiarum, or Four Books of Sentences by Peter Lombard (c. 1150–1160), became a standard textbook in the scholastic curriculum. Lombard’s Sentences compiled authorities from Church Fathers and later theologians, shaping medieval doctrinal debate until the rise of more critical methods in the early modern period.