afflictio

Forms

afflīctiō f (genitive afflīctiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin afflīgō (“to strike down, afflict”) + -tiō.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

L&S's only Classical example is in Seneca's consolation to his mother Helvia, of useless suffering.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The TLL calls it a word of the Christians, used in the singular and plural from Ambrose on.^[2] Jerome discusses it as a rendering of the Greek word that also means malice, and the Vulgate uses it of the ruin that will sink Babylon.^[2] Augustine applies it to the sack of Rome and to the devastation of the Second Punic War.^[2]

In Medieval Latin it meant ill-treatment and oppression, misfortune and calamity,^[5][6] and also ascetic self-mortification.^[6] Du Cange records it for the recitation of a penitential psalm said lying prostrate, chiefly in Lent.^[7] English affliction dates from about 1300, at first often for self-mortification.^[8]

Timeline

• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca speaks of useless suffering.^[3][4]
• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it in the singular and plural.^[2][4]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of the ruin of Babylon.^[2][4]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of the calamities of Rome.^[2][4]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm writes of the cruel afflictions of blows.^[9][4]
• c. 1300 – English borrows affliction from Old French and directly from Latin.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Pain, suffering, torment.^[3][10]
2. (Late Latin) Ruin, devastation, calamity.^[2][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) Ill-treatment, oppression.^[5][6]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Self-mortification, ascetic practice.^[6][9]
5. (Medieval Latin) The recitation of a penitential psalm said lying prostrate.^[7]

Related words

• English affliction

Usage notes

Older texts write adflictio.^[2][1]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b 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
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson