allocutio

Forms

allocūtiō f (genitive allocūtiōnis); third declension^[1] It is also spelled adlocūtiō; coins and inscriptions always have the unassimilated form.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin alloquor (“to speak to, address”) + -tiō.^[2][1] That verb is a compound of ad- and loquor (“to speak”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Catullus,^[3][4] in the sense of comforting words: quā sōlātus es allocūtiōne?, “with what words of comfort have you consoled me?”^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In the 1st century AD it is used for an address or a way of addressing someone, by Quintilian, Pliny the Younger and Suetonius, and it becomes more frequent in later Latin.^[2][5][3] The sense of encouragement or consolation continues in Seneca and in the Vulgate, and an exhortation to an army appears in the legends of coins.^[2][5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it also named an address by the Pope to the cardinals,^[6] and in British Medieval Latin it meant a conversation or discussion.^[7]

Timeline

• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it for words of consolation.^[2][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it for forms of address in the historians.^[2][4]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it for an address.^[5][4]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for consolation.^[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An address, a speaking to someone; a manner of addressing.^[2][5]
2. Words of comfort, consolation; an exhortation, especially of an army before battle.^[2][5]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) An address by the Pope to the cardinals.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin) A conversation, discussion.^[7]

Related words

• alloquium
• English allocution

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 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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