Etymologically
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accommodatio

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Forms

accommodātiō f (genitive accommodātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin accommodō (“to fit, adapt”) + -tiō.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Rhetorica ad Herennium defines style as the fitting of suitable words and thoughts to the matter found: ēlocūtiō est idōneōrum verbōrum et sententiārum ad inventiōnem accommodātiō.[2][3][4] Cicero gives the same definition in his De inventione.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Beside this sense of fitting one thing to another, Cicero uses it of a readiness to oblige: in the Verrines a practice arose ex līberālitāte atque accommodātiōne magistrātuum, “from the generosity and accommodating spirit of magistrates”.[2][5] Stelten records it in Church Latin for adjustment, compliance and indulgence.[6]

In Medieval Latin it was above all a loan, of money or goods.[7][8] English records also use it of an extra day's work at harvest owed to a lord,[8] and John of Garland uses it in music of the adjustment of one voice to another.[7] English took accommodation about 1600, through French.[9]

Timeline

  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it in its definition of style.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the obliging attitude of magistrates.[2][4]
  • c. 983 – Gumpold's life of Wenceslas speaks of money owed under an agreement of loan.[7][4]
  • 1201 – An English royal charter deals with disputes between Christians and Jews over a loan of money.[8]
  • c. 1600 – English borrows accommodation from French.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The fitting or adapting of one thing to another.[2][5]
  2. Willingness to oblige; complaisance, compliance.[2][5][6]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A loan; lending.[7][8]
  4. (Medieval Latin) An extra day's work at harvest owed to a lord, a boon work.[8]
  5. (Medieval Latin, music) The adjustment of a voice to another.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ a b c d e Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com