solicitation

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French sollicitation, also solicitation, and directly borrowed from Latin sollicitātiō (“vexation, disturbance, instigation”).^[2][3][4] Klein calls the French word Middle French.^[5] The Latin noun is formed from sollicitātus, the past participle of sollicitō (“to disturb, rouse, stimulate, provoke”),^[6][7][3] the source of solicit.^[2] The verb comes from sollicitus (“agitated”),^[3][2] from sollus (“whole, entire”) and citus (“set in motion, aroused”), the past participle of cieō (“to shake, set in motion”).^[3][2] Etymonline traces these to Proto-Indo-European *sol- (“whole, well-kept”) and Proto-Indo-European *keie- (“to set in motion”).^[3] The French word has counterparts in Spanish solicitación, Portuguese solicitação and Italian sollecitazione.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The management or pursuit of business, especially legal affairs: 1492, in the Acta Dominorum Concilii, the records of the Scottish council;^[2] Etymonline gives the Middle English form solicitacioun.^[3] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1485–95.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, the handling of affairs, followed a French sense of solliciter, to manage affairs,^[3] and was obsolete by the early 18th century.^[2][4] From 1533 the word meant earnestly asking for something, entreaty or petition,^[2][3] and an instance of this is recorded slightly earlier, in Dunbar's poems.^[2] In Shakespeare's Othello it was used of soliciting a person of the other sex,^[2] and Etymonline dates the sense of a prostitute enticing a man in a public place to about 1600.^[3] In the 17th century it was also used of the pull of a physical force (1626) and of an alluring influence (1676),^[2] as in Milton's line quoted by Johnson about resisting all of Satan's "solicitations".^[8] A legal sense, inciting another person to commit a crime, is recorded from 1835;^[2][9] Black's Law Dictionary treats this as an offence distinct from the crime solicited.^[9] From 1693 to 1725 it also meant anxiety, like solicitude.^[2]

Timeline

• 1492 – the management of business or legal affairs (obsolete by 1722).^[2]
• before 1513 – an earnest request, in Dunbar's poems.^[2]
• 1533 – the act of soliciting; entreaty, petition.^[2][3]
• before 1616 – soliciting a person for sex, in Shakespeare's Othello.^[2][3]
• 1626 – the pull of a physical force.^[2]
• 1676 – the action of an alluring influence.^[2]
• 1693 – anxiety, solicitude (obsolete by 1725).^[2]
• 1835 – law, inciting another to commit a crime.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of soliciting; an earnest request or entreaty, or an instance of one: The charity sent a solicitation for donations to every household.^[6][9][2]
2. (law) The offence of urging or inciting another person to commit a crime: He was charged with solicitation of bribery.^[9][2]
3. The act of offering sex for money, or of approaching someone for that purpose.^[2][3]
4. An attracting or alluring influence; enticement.^[6][2]
5. (obsolete, 1492–1722) The management or pursuit of business or legal affairs.^[2][4]

Word family

• nonsolicitation
• resolicitation

Related words

• solicit
• solicitor
• solicitous
• solicitude

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c d Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West