supplication

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English supplicacioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman supplicacioun, also Anglo-Norman and Middle French supplication,^[5][2][6][3] and directly borrowed from Latin supplicātiō,^[5][2][4][7] from supplicātus, the past participle of supplicō (“to beg humbly”),^[3][6][4] from sub (“under”) and plācō (“to calm, appease”),^[4] a causative of placeō (“to please”).^[4] Etymonline cites the Old Latin phrase sub vos placo (“I entreat you”).^[4] The French word is recorded from about 1175, for a request to God and an earnest request to a person in authority,^[5] and the Anglo-Norman one from 1298.^[8] In classical Latin it meant an offering to appease a deity, and only later a humble submission (4th century), a prayer to God (5th) and a written petition to a ruler (6th).^[5] The phrase "to make supplication" follows faire supplication.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A humble plea or earnest request, especially to someone in power: before 1393, in Gower's Confessio Amantis,^[5][2] in line with Etymonline's late 14th century and Dictionary.com's 1350–1400.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

English took over a word whose range was already wide in French, and the senses appeared within a few decades of each other.^[5] Chaucer and Gower each use it twice, for a petition or a prayer.^[9] The religious sense, addressing a solemn request to God, is in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.^[5] From Pecock on (about 1443) a supplication could be one such prayer, also a request for a special blessing in a litany.^[5] The formal sense of a written petition to a king, an official or a court is on record from about 1419; it now survives chiefly in law according to the OED, and is archaic according to Merriam-Webster Unabridged.^[5][6] Translators of Roman history used it for the public ceremony of thanksgiving or intercession, from P. Holland's Livy (1600) on,^[5][4] and at Oxford University it became the formal request for a degree (1691).^[5][10] Johnson (1755) distinguished a petition humbly delivered from petitionary worship, quoting Shakespeare and Milton.^[11] A verb supplication is recorded once, in Nashe (1593).^[5]

Timeline

• before 1393 – a humble plea, an earnest entreaty.^[5][2]
• c. 1400 – a solemn request to God, prayer.^[5]
• 1417 – the action of pleading humbly, as in to make supplication.^[5]
• c. 1419 – a formal, usually written, petition to a king, official or court.^[5]
• c. 1443 – a single prayer; in a litany, a request for a special blessing.^[5]
• 1593 – as a verb, once, in Nashe.^[5]
• 1600 – in Roman history, a public ceremony of thanksgiving or intercession.^[5][4]
• 1691 – at Oxford University, a formal request for a degree.^[5][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A humble and earnest request; an entreaty: The widow's supplications moved the governor.^[12][6][5]
2. The act of pleading humbly: The prisoners knelt in supplication.^[12][6][5]
3. A humble prayer to God or a god, especially for mercy or a blessing.^[12][6][5]
4. (Roman history) A public religious ceremony of thanksgiving or intercession, as after a victory.^[5][10][4]
5. At Oxford University, a formal petition for a degree.^[5][10]
6. (archaic) A formal written petition, now chiefly in law.^[6][5]

Related words

• supplicate
• suppliant
• placate
• please

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ 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 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
10. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins