arcesso

Forms

arcessō (present infinitive arcessere, perfect active arcessīvī, supine arcessītum); third conjugation^[1] It is also spelled accersō.^[2][3] Some forms follow the fourth conjugation, as the infinitive arcessīrī.^[2][4]

Etymology

De Vaan traces it to Proto-Italic *kers-s-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *kers- (“to run”), the root of currō (“to run”).^[3] It has two forms, ⟨accersō⟩ and ⟨arcessō⟩, both current in Plautus' time; one arose from the other by an unusual metathesis or by analogy, and Nussbaum takes ⟨accersō⟩, from ad- with a desiderative of the root, as the original.^[3][1] The OLD calls the origin doubtful.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Captivi: quaesō hominem ut iubeās arcessī, “please have the man sent for”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is to send for, fetch, summon or invite people, and military help or troops; poets use it of calling back the dead or invoking a god.^[2] In law it is to summon before a court, to accuse, as in Cicero's Verrines.^[2] It is also to fetch things (Plautus: he will go and fetch the gold), to import arts and cults, to draw from a source, and to raise money (Juvenal).^[2] Plautus uses it of adding one evil to another, Curtius of claiming divine honours, and Cicero of bringing in ornament where it is not needed.^[2] It is to bring something on oneself, and to induce sleep or tears, as Celsus' sleep induced by drugs.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “summon”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of sending for people and things.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of summoning to court.^[2][5]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus of inducing sleep.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To send for, fetch, summon, invite; to call up (troops); to call back (the dead).^[2][1][6]
2. To summon before a court, arraign, accuse.^[2][1]
3. To fetch (things); to import; to derive (from a source).^[2]
4. To add improperly, drag in; to claim (honours).^[2]
5. To bring on (oneself); to induce (sleep, tears).^[2]

Word family

• arcessiō
• arcessitio
• arcessitor
• arcessītus

Related words

• currō

Usage notes

Döderlein notes that arcessere and accersere simply mean to send for, while accīre is to invite an equal and ēvocāre to summon a subordinate.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper