adoratio

Forms

adōrātiō f (genitive adōrātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin adōrō + -tiō, a noun of action from the verb meaning “to worship”.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder uses it for an act of worship or prayer to the gods, asking why people meet spells with a special form of adoration, and saying that the gods are appeased by it.^[4][2][5]

Semantic evolution

L&S calls the word rare in Classical Latin.^[6] Apuleius has the plural for the worship of Venus.^[7][4] The TLL also records it for the Persian custom of prostration before a king, as in Justin, who tells of a king's salutation by prostration being given up.^[4]

In Christian Latin it is the worship of God, and also of idols, as in Jerome.^[4] Niermeyer gives a medieval sense of deferential salutation,^[8] and Thomas Aquinas defines it as reverence shown to a superior being.^[9] English took it over in the 1540s as adoration, through French.^[10]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of worship meant to placate the gods.^[4][11]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses the plural for the worship of Venus.^[7][11]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it for the worship of idols.^[4][11]
• 1540s – Borrowed into English as adoration, through French.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. An act of worship or prayer.^[2][6][5]
2. Prostration or homage before a ruler, in the Persian manner.^[4]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Adoration of God.^[12][9]
4. (Medieval Latin) A deferential salutation.^[8]

Related words

• English adoration

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
12. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson