1590年代,“放逐(某人),將某人送到偏遠或遙遠的地方,將某人送走或避開”,源自拉丁語 relegatus,是 relegare 的過去分詞,“移除,解僱,放逐,送走,安排,擱置”,由 re- “回來”(見 re-)和 legare “派遣代表,委託,授權,遺贈”組成,可能字面意思是“通過合同僱傭”,與 lex(屬格 legis)“合同,法律”有關(源自 PIE 詞根 *leg-(1)“收集,聚集”)。
所有意義都來自羅馬法律中的一個特定含義:“將某人流放,使其離開羅馬一定距離一定時間。”“使(某人)處於劣勢地位”的意義記錄於1790年。關於主題,事物等,“將其分配到某個特定的類別,領域等”,最早見於1866年。相關: Relegated; relegating; relegable。
[Relegatio] allowed the expulsion of a citizen from Rome by magisterial decree. All examples of relegation were accomplished by magistrates with imperium, and lesser magistrates probably did not possess this power. Any number of individuals could be relegated under a single decree, and they even could be directed to relocate to a specific area. This act was generally used to remove undesirable foreigners from Rome, as when Greek philosophers were expelled from Rome in 161 and two Epicureans, Philiscus and Alcaeus, were banished seven years later. [Gordan P. Kelly, "A History of Exile in the Roman Republic," Cambridge: 2006]
[ Relegatio ]允許市長法令將公民從羅馬驅逐出境。所有的流放例子都是由擁有 imperium 的市長完成的,較低級別的市長可能沒有這種權力。單個法令可以將任意數量的個人流放,他們甚至可以被指示搬到特定的區域。這一行爲通常用於將不受歡迎的外國人從羅馬驅逐出境,例如在公元161年,希臘哲學家被驅逐出羅馬,七年後,兩個伊壁鳩魯派的哲學家 Philiscus 和 Alcaeus 被流放。[戈登·P·凱利,“羅馬共和國流放史”,劍橋:2006年]