traktate

Traktate is a plural noun used in several European languages to refer to documents that can mean either a treaty or a tractate (a short, formal written work). Depending on the context, Traktate may denote a diplomatic agreement between states or a scholarly or religious short treatise. In English-language scholarship the singular form is tractate and the normal English plural is tractates; in some European texts, the form Traktate appears as a loanword plural.

Etymology and usage: the term traces to Latin tractatus, meaning a handling or written treatise. Through German, Dutch and other languages, forms related to Traktat or Traktate entered use with senses tied to both treaties and treatises. English retains tractate as the standard term for a concise, systematic work on a subject, with tractates as its plural. In legal-historical writing, equivalents of Traktate in local languages often translate to treaty.

Contexts and examples: in diplomacy and international law, a treaty (often labeled Traktat in some languages) is a formal agreement between parties and may be discussed or listed as a Traktate in historical documents. In scholarly and religious literature, tractates are the individual sections of larger works, such as the tractates of the Mishnah and Talmud in Jewish studies, or theological and philosophical tractates in Western scholarship. The word’s exact sense is determined by the surrounding language and field.

See also: treaty, tractate, tract, treaty law, Mishnah, Talmud.