Etymologically
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accio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈak.ki.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈat.t͡ʃi.o][1]

Forms

acciō (present infinitive accīre, perfect active accīvī or acciī, supine accītum); fourth conjugation[1] Plautus has a future acciēbō and Lucretius an imperfect accībant.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from ad- (“to”) and cieō (“to set in motion, summon”).[2] De Vaan reconstructs for ⟨cieō⟩ an aorist Proto-Indo-European *(ḱ)ei(h₂)- (“to start to move”), cognate with Ancient Greek ἔκιε (ékie, “started to move”), and notes that the long ⟨ī⟩ of ⟨accīre⟩ appears in its perfect.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has the future acciēbō in the Miles gloriosus;[2] Accius has “for which uproar I have called you here”.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is to summon, send for or invite, as in Accius and Lucretius' men calling on Orcus with dreadful cries, and to have a thing fetched, as Tacitus' king who sent his most trusted friends to Pontus to fetch the god's statue.[2][4][1] It is used with the purpose of the summons, as in Varro.[2] Mortem accīre, “to summon death”, is to kill oneself, as Velleius' king who brought on his own death.[2][1]

Lewis and Short call it rare but classical.[4] Church Latin glosses it “summon, call to, procure, take”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has acciēbō.[2][6]
  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of summoning to an uproar.[2][6]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of calling on Orcus.[4][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of fetching a statue.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To summon, send for, invite; to have (a thing) fetched.[2][4][1][5]
  2. To summon (for a purpose).[2]
  3. mortem accīre, to commit suicide.[2][1]

Word family

  • accitio
  • accītus

Usage notes

Döderlein gives arcessere and accersere as the general words for sending for someone;[7] accīre implies that those sent for are equals, as in an invitation, and ēvocāre that they are subordinates, as in a summons.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper