allevio

Forms

alleviō (present infinitive alleviāre, perfect active alleviāvī, supine alleviātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ad- + levis¹ (“light”) + -iō,^[1][2][3] with the causative verb suffix.^[1] Lewis & Short treat it as equivalent to allevō, from levō “to lift, lighten”.^[4][5] The verb without the prefix is leviō.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Vulgate,^[4] where a ship is lightened in the storm of the Book of Jonah.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Already in the Vulgate it was also used figuratively, of the Lord raising up the sick and of a land dealt with leniently.^[4] The TLL regards many of its occurrences as doubtful, since medieval copyists confused it with allevō and ēlevō.^[2]

Medieval writers used it for unloading ships, for easing pain, for reducing a charge and for releasing someone from a duty.^[6] Old French alegier (French alléger) and Spanish aliviar continue it.^[1] English alleviate comes from its Late Latin participle alleviātus.^[7]

Timeline

• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of lightening a ship and of relieving the sick.^[4][8]
• early 15th century – English borrows alleviate from its participle.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make light, lighten.^[4][3]
2. (figurative) To raise up, relieve, alleviate.^[4][9]
3. (Medieval Latin) To mitigate or reduce (a burden or penalty); to release.^[6]

Related words

• allevō
• English alleviate

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson