Etymologically

admonitio

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Forms

admonitiō f (genitive admonitiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin admoneō (“to remind, warn”) + -tiō.[2][1] The verb is from ad- and moneō (“to remind, advise”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *moneje- and Proto-Indo-European *mon-eie- (“to make think of, remind”).[3] Cognate with Sanskrit मानयति (mānáyati, “honours, respects”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero,[4] who writes that places have so great a power of reminding us.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the act of reminding or a reminder, and in Pliny the Elder a recurring symptom of a disease that people feel even after they are cured.[2] It is also a recommendation or warning, and a mild rebuke: Cicero calls it a gentler kind of reproof.[2][5] It is the pointing out of a fact, as distinct from formal argument in Cicero, and in Ulpian a summons to appear in court.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “admonition, warning”.[6] In medieval texts it is also a sermon, a formal summons to perform an obligation, and an injunction to do one's duty.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a reminder and of a mild reproof.[2][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of a recurring symptom.[2][4]
  • before 223 AD – Ulpian of a summons to court.[2][4]
  • Middle Ages – Of a sermon and of a summons.[7]
  • late 14th century – Borrowed into English as admonition, through Old French.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A reminder; a recurring symptom of a disease.[2][5][1]
  2. Advice, warning; a mild rebuke.[2][5][1]
  3. A pointing out of a fact;[2] (law) a summons to appear in court.[2]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A sermon; a summons to perform an obligation.[7]

Word family

  • admonitiuncula

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com