traditionem

Traditionem is the accusative singular form of the Latin noun traditio, meaning tradition or the act of handing down. The root is the verb tradere, “to hand over” or “to entrust,” and traditio denotes both the process of transmission and the thing that is transmitted. In classical Latin, traditionem appears in discussions of customs, rites, laws, and other practices that are transmitted across generations, and it can function as the direct object of verbs describing preservation or reception of these practices.

In Christian and late antique contexts, traditio and its forms took on a specialized sense as part of the broader concept of Tradition—the living transmission of apostolic teaching alongside Scripture. In medieval and scholastic Latin, traditionem could refer to inherited rights, customary law, and cultural heritage as a whole.

In Catholic theology, Tradition (often treated as a capitalized concept in English) denotes the depositum fidei entrusted by Christ to the Apostles and handed down through the teaching authority of the Church, together with Sacred Scripture. The distinction between Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture figures prominently in discussions of sources of revelation, though both are regarded as complementary in most Christian traditions.

Beyond theology, traditionem is used in scholarly Latin to discuss inherited customs and cultural heritage, and is encountered in linguistic, historical, and ethnographic contexts as a way to describe long-standing practices transmitted through generations. In modern texts written in or translating Latin, the term is usually found in academic or liturgical discourses rather than everyday speech.