Borrowed fromNew Latinubicātiō(“location”) (whencePortugueseubicação andSpanishubicación; compare theinflected formsubicātiōnis,ubicātiōnī, etc.) +-ion.Ubicātiō is derived fromLatinubicātus(“located”) +-iō(suffix formingabstract nouns); whileubicātus is apastparticipial form ofubicō(“to situate”) (found in British works from the 14th century), fromubi(“where”) (ultimately fromProto-Indo-European*kʷ-(primary interrogative root)) +-ō(suffix forming regular first-conjugationverbs).[1] Bysurface analysis,ubicate +-ion (ubicate is probably aback-formation fromubication).
Later occurrences are influenced bySpanishubicación,[1] hence their use chiefly in Spanish contexts.
ubication (countable anduncountable,pluralubications)
- (archaic, chiefly inSpanish contexts) Thecondition orfact of being in, oroccupying, a certainplace orposition;whereness,ubiety; also, alocation.
- 1644, Digby,Nat. Soule, v., §9., 400:
- We conceiue these modifications if the thing, like substances; and…we call them by substantiue names, Whitenesse, Action,Vbication, Duration, &c.
- 1661, Glanvill,Van Dogm., 101:
- Relations,Ubications, Duration, the vulgar Philosophy admits into the list of something.
1699,39 Art., Burnet,xxviii. (1700), 324:They are accustomed to think thatUbication, or the being in a Place, is but an Accident to a Substance.
- 1837, Whewell,Hist. Induct. Sci., II.,vi., ii., § 5., 45:
- Arriaga, who wrote in 1639,…suggests that the board affects the upper weight, which it does not touch, by itsubication, or whereness.
- 1866, T.N. Harper,Peace through Truth, Ser.i., 212:
- Theterminus ad quem is already existing, and merely receives a newubication.
1892 August 5,Standard:The constant identity of theubication and direction of the lines [in Mars] proved their connection with the soil.
1952,Applied Mechanics Reviews,page103, column 2:Theubication of such a joint should be obtained as the point of intersection of the three planes normal to the directions of the lines joining the joint considered with the other three.
condition or fact of being in, or occupying, a certain place or position
, Oxford:Oxford University Press,July 2023;“ubication,n.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.