indiction
(ɪnˈdɪkʃən)
[ad. L. indictiōn-em, noun of action from indīcĕre to appoint, announce, indict v.2, perh. immed. a. OF. indiction, indictiun (Ph. de Thaun, 12th c.).]
1. The action of ordaining or announcing authoritatively and publicly; an appointment, declaration, proclamation.
| 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 642/2 A prorogation is made before the terme is expired and not after, for after, it is rather called an newe indiction or appointment. 1586 J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 153 A hereald must be couragious to promulgate the cruell indictions of warres (by his soueraignes commaunde). 1654 H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 161 According to the Kings indiction, the Assembly met and sate at Edenburgh. a 1714 Burnet Hist. Ref. an. 1536 (R.) He agreed that neither he nor they should accept of the indiction of a General Council, but by all mutual consent. 1731 Chandler tr. Limborch's Hist. Inquis. II. 110 He must take care that the Rectors of the Churches have these Letters of Indiction on Sunday. 1872 W. H. Jervis Gallican Ch. I. ii. 150 The bull of indiction was so worded as to admit the view for which the French contended. |
2. The decree or proclamation of the Roman Emperors fixing the valuation on which the property-tax was assessed at the beginning of each period of fifteen years; hence, the tax or subsidy paid on the basis of this assessment. Also transf.
| 1586 J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 147 Their indiction or subsedie (called the indiction of fifteene yeares) was payd in this manner. a 1626 Bp. Andrewes Serm., Giving Cæsar his Due (1661) 735 Besides those other ordinary, the indictions for war (which we call subsidies) are part of quæ Cæsaris too. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xvii. II. 62 The emperor subscribed with his own hand, and in purple ink, the solemn edict, or indiction, which was fixed up in the principal city of each diocese, during two months previous to the first day of September. And, by a very easy connection of ideas, the word indiction was transferred to the measure of tribute which it prescribed, and to the annual term which it allowed for the payment. 1848 Hallam Mid. Ages ii. Note vii. I. 306 The indiction, or land-tax, imposed on the subjects of the Roman empire. 1851 Sir J. Stephen Lect. Hist. Fr. (1852) I. 25 There was a new assessment, or, as it was called, indiction, every fifteenth year. |
3. The fiscal period of fifteen years, instituted by the Emperor Constantine in a.d. 313, and reckoned from the 1st of Sept. 312, which became a usual means of dating ordinary events and transactions, and continued in use as such down through the Middle Ages. Also called indiction cycle or era of indiction or indictions.
Besides this, the original or Constantinopolitan indiction, there were also the Constantinian (adopted on mistaken grounds in Western Europe) which began on Sept. 24, and the so-called Roman or Pontifical, beginning with the commencement of the civil year.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 255 Þe Romayns..hadde of every lond þat þey hadde i-wonne þre manere tribute in fiftene ȝere, and cleped þe fiftene ȝere Indictioun. 1552 Huloet, Indiction, which is the space of fiftene yeres and used after the church of Rome, indictio. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 127 Computation of times, as amongst the Greekes by Olympiads, and amongst the Romans by Lustra and Indictions. a 1656 Ussher Ann. (1658) 641. 1702 Echard Eccl. Hist. (1710) 692 From this year [312] began that noted æra or period of time called the Indiction. 1824 T. Tegg Chron. Introd. 17 The Cycle of Indiction..was established by Constantine a.d. 312; if therefore from any given year of the Christian era 312 be subtracted and the remainder be divided by 15, the year of this cycle will be obtained. 1897 W. M. Ramsay in Expositor Apr. 275 The indictions are not known to have been in use earlier than the fourth century. |
b. transf. Any similar cycle of years.
| 1843 Prescott Mexico i. iv. (1864) 36 To enable them to specify any particular year, they divided the great cycle into four smaller cycles, or indictions, of thirteen years each. |
4. A specified year in the recurring period of fifteen years, counting from a.d. 312–313, indicated by its numerical position in the cycle; the number thus indicating a year.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 253 After þe concepcioun of Iohn Baptiste, þe sixte monþe, þe fyve and twenty day of Marche, in a Friday, þe tenþe day of the mone, þe twelfþe Inductioun [Higden Indictione duodecima; Harl. transl. the xiithe indiccion], at Nazareth in Galilee, Crist is iconceyved of þe virgine Marie. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 28 The secunde yer of the forseyd pope Sergye, and thwelfte indiccyoun. 1594 Blundevil Exerc. vii. ix. (1636) 661 Adde to the yeere of the Lord given 3, and divide the product thereof by 15, and the remainder shall be the number of the said Indiction. 1657 North's Plutarch (1676) Add. Lives 41 [Charlemain] died..in the year of our Lord eight hundred and fourteen, the seventh Indiction, on the fifth Calends of February. 1710 Prideaux Orig. Tithes iv. 178 These things were enacted in the Year of the Incarnation of our Lord 855, in the third Indiction, on the Nones of November. 1861 Scrivener Introd. Crit. N. Test. 183 note, The letter χ is quite illegible, but the Indiction 9 belongs only to a.d. 831, 1131, 1431. 1875 ― Lect. Text N. Test. 15 The year of the Greek era, and sometimes the proper Indiction of that year. |
† 5. An ecclesiastical observance authoritatively enjoined, or the period during which it is observed; esp. a public fast. Obs.
| 1641 Milton Reform. i. Wks. (1847) 10/1 He that cannot tell of stations and indictions..shall be counted a lank, shallow, insufficient man. 1665 Evelyn Corr. 9 Feb., The Lenten abstinence minds me of another incongruity..the frequency of our Theatrical pastimes during that Indiction. 1685 ― Mrs. Godolphin (1888) 175 Not onely did she fast on dayes of Indiction, and such as the Church enjoynes. |
¶ 6. = indication: cf. indict v.2 2. Obs.
| 1653 R. Sanders Physiogn., Moles etc. 21 [It] is the indiction of a short life. |