Alibi, that everyday Latin word

Where does the word “alibi” come from?

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Here is a useful word and oh so indispensable since it is a question of exonerating oneself when one finds oneself in an embarrassing situation which can range from the theft of candy to murder with premeditation.

The word comes from the Latin of the adverb alibi (alius, "

other

" and ibi, "

here

") "

elsewhere

".

Read alsoDo you speak 21st century Latin?

In the 14th century, it meant "to

have been elsewhere at the time a crime was committed

" but did not take on the legal meaning that we know of it until centuries later.

We could meet it in the nineteenth century in the expression "

looking for alibis

", in this case alibi took the meaning of "

chicane

".

Supplement to the Dictionary of the French Academy, 1842.

In the figurative sense, alibi takes the meaning of justification:

What is flawed in the Tour (de France) is the base, the economic motives, the ultimate profit of the event, generator of ideological alibis

Roland Barthes - "Mythologies & nbsp;", 1957

Explain an absence

In the dictionary of the French Academy of 1835 then in that of 1878, we discover a derivative which deserves to find a place in our contemporary vocabulary "

alibi fairground

" then "

alibiforain

", formed of alibi and fairground (from foras, "

Outside

", "

foreign

"): words that

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