pandect
/ˈpændɛkt/
Etymology
Sense 3 (“comprehensive treatise”) is from Latin pandectēs (“book that contains everything, encyclopedia”), from Ancient Greek πανδέκτης (pandéktēs, “encyclopedia”, literally “all-receiver”), from παν- (pan-, prefix meaning ‘all’) (from πᾶς (pâs, “all”)) + δέκτης (déktēs, “receiver, recipient”) (from δέχομαι (dékhomai, “to receive”) (from Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- (“to take; to perceive”)) + -της (-tēs, suffix forming agent nouns)).
Sense 1 (“compendium of writings on Roman law”) in the plural form Pandects is from Late Latin pandectae (“the Pandects”), the plural of pandectēs, modelled after (Byzantine) Ancient Greek πανδέκται (pandéktai, “the Pandects”), the plural of πανδέκτης (pandéktēs): see further above.
pandect means usually in the plural form Pandects: a compendium or digest of writings on Roman law divided in 50 books, compiled in the 6th century C.E. by order of the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I (c. 482–565). Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
pandect is pronounced /ˈpændɛkt/.
Why “pandect” is a great word
PANDECT — [Noun] A comprehensive treatise or digest, especially the Pandects, a 6th-century compendium of Roman law, or by extension, a complete legal code or the entire Bible. From Late Latin pandectae (plural), from Latin pandectēs, from Ancient Greek πανδέκτης (pandéktēs, "all-receiver, encyclopedia"), from παν- (pan-, "all") + δέκτης (déktēs, "receiver"), from δέχομαι (dékhomai, "to receive"). Unlike a digest, which is a selective abridgment, or a code, which is a systematic list of statutes, a pandect is an all-encompassing vessel meant to receive a whole domain. It is the physical heft of fifty volumes of Roman law, the silent totality of a family Bible on a parlour table, and the scholar's impossible dream of a single book containing everything worth knowing—a monument to the melancholic ambition to receive the world whole, and to bind it shut.
noun
- Usually in the plural form Pandects: a compendium or digest of writings on Roman law divided in 50 books, compiled in the 6th century C.E. by order of the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I (c. 482–565).“After upwards of Thirty Years Study, and a painful Induſtry, in compiling A New Pandect or Complete Body of the Roman Civil Law; the Firſt Volume of this Undertaking craves Leave to appear in the World under the Patronage and Protection of your Lordſhip, [...]”
- Also in the plural form pandects: a comprehensive collection of laws; specifically, the whole body of law of a country; a legal code.“In a word, it [Scripture] is a Panary of holeſome foode, againſt fenowed traditions; a Phyſions-ſhop (Saint Baſill calleth it) of preſeruatiues against poiſoned hereſies; a Pandect of profitable lawes, againſt rebellious ſpirits; a treaſurie of moſt coſtly iewels, againſt beggarly rudiments; Finally, a fountaine of moſt pure water ſpringing vp vnto euerlaſting life.”
- A treatise or similar work that is comprehensive as to a particular topic; specifically (Christianity) a manuscript of the entire Bible.“The table of contents which we inſert here will give a juſt idea of the method with which this ſmall pandect of morality is compoſed.”