inventio
From LSJ
ὥσπερ λίθοι τε καὶ πλίνθοι καὶ ξύλα καὶ κέραμος, ἀτάκτως μὲν ἐρριμμένα οὐδὲν χρήσιμά ἐστιν → just as stones and bricks, woodwork and tiles, tumbled together in a heap are of no use at all (Xenophon, Memorabilia 3.1.7)
Latin > English (Lewis & Short)
inventĭo: ōnis, f. id.,
I an inventing, invention (class.).
I In gen.: illa vis quae investigat occulta, quae inventio atque excogitatio dicitur, Cic. Tusc. 1, 25, 61; 1, 26, 65; Plin. Pan. 72.—
II Rhet., the faculty of invention: inventio est excogitatio rerum verarum aut verisimilium, quae causam probabilem reddant, Auct. Her. 1, 2; cf.: partes eae (rhetoricae artis) . . . inventio, dispositio, etc., Cic. Inv. 1, 7, 9: rerum, Quint. 12, 10, 36.
