From Latin 'exceptus,' past participle of 'excipere' (to take out, withdraw, exclude, receive, catch), composed of 'ex-' (out) + 'capere' (to take, to seize, to grasp). The PIE root is *keh₂p- (to grasp, to seize), one of the most productive roots in the Latin vocabulary. The literal meaning is 'taken out' — something excepted has been physically removed from the group, separated from the whole. In legal Latin, 'exceptio' became a technical term for a formal objection or exclusion clause
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The phrase 'the exception proves the rule' is routinely misunderstood. 'Proves' here uses the olderEnglishsense of 'tests' (as in 'proving ground'), not 'demonstrates.' The expression, from Latin legal reasoning, means that the existence of an exception tests and thereby confirms that a general rule exists — not that exceptions somehow demonstrate rules by contradicting them.
to take hold), 'capacity' (how much can be taken in), 'capture' (to seize), 'captive' (one seized), 'accept' (take toward oneself), 'conceive' (take together, hence grasp