aestimō

Censere; Judicare; Arbitrari; Æstimare; Opinari; Putare; Reri; Autumare; Existimare; Credere. 1. Censere, judicare, arbitrari, æstimare, denote passing judgment with competent authority, derived from a call to the office of judge; censere, as possessing the authority of a censor, or of a senator giving his vote; judicare, as possessing that of a judge passing sentence; arbitrari, as possessing that of an arbitrator; æstimare (αἰσθέσθαι), as that of a taxer, making a valuation; whereas, opinari, putare, reri, and autumare, denote passing judgment under the form of a private opinion, with a purely subjective signification; opinari (ὀπίς) as a mere sentiment and conjecture, in opp. to a clear conviction and knowledge. Cic. Orat. i. 23. Mur. 30. Tusc. iv. 7. Rosc. Am. 10; putare, as one who casts up an account; reri as a poetical, and autumare as an antiquated term. 2. Æstimare denotes passing judgment under the form of the political function of an actual taxer, to estimate anything exactly, or according to its real value, or price in money; but existimare, as a moral function, to estimate anything according to its worth or truth; hence Cicero contrasts existimatio, not æstimatio, as a private opinion, with competent judgment, judicio; Cluent. 29. Verr. v. 68. 3. Censere denotes judgment and belief, as grounded upon one’s own reflection and conviction; credere, as grounded on the credit which is given to the testimony of others. 4. Opinor, parenthetically, implies modesty, like οἶμαι; whereas credo implies irony, like ὡς ἔοικεν, sometimes in propositions that are self-evident, whereby the irony reaches the ears of those to whom the truth could not be plainly spoken or repeated, or who might be inclined to doubt it; sometimes, in absurd propositions which a man thinks fit to put in the mouth of another; sometimes, in propositions so evident as scarcely to admit of controversy. (v. 300.)