comissatio

Forms

cōmissātiō f (genitive cōmissātiōnis); third declension^[1] The spellings cōmisātiō and commissātiō also occur, and manuscripts of Seneca have comessātiō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin cōmissor (“to revel, carouse”) + -tiō.^[2][1][4] That verb was borrowed from Ancient Greek κωμάζω (kōmázō, “to revel, make merry”), a derivative of κῶμος (kômos, “revel”).^[1] Döderlein, too, derives the noun from the Greek verb.^[5]

Wiktionary explains the many variant spellings as the result of mistaken links with cōmis (“friendly”), comedō (“to eat up”) and mēnsa (“table”).^[1] The DMLBS suggests that the medieval spelling ⟨comess-⟩ was influenced by comēstiō (“eating”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero,^[7][3] in the sense of a riotous revel after a dinner.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was the drinking and merrymaking that followed a banquet, with the procession of the revellers through the streets that went with it;^[3][8][9] in general it meant carousing or revelry, often in the plural.^[2][8] Cicero speaks of totus comissationis Antonianae chorus, “the whole troupe of Antony's revels”,^[10] and in the De oratore he censures the metaphors tempestās comissātiōnis as too bold and comissātiō tempestātis as too feeble.^[3] Livy, Seneca, Suetonius and Gellius use it as well.^[3][8]

In Christian Latin, where the Vulgate uses it,^[11] it took on the sense of an immoderate meal or gluttony,^[11][6] and the TLL notes that comessātiō came to mean simply eating.^[12] Medieval writers used it of feasting and drinking bouts, of banquets at pagan festivals and in guilds, and of food itself.^[11][6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of drunken revels.^[3][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it in his history.^[3][8][7]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca writes it with the spelling comessātiō.^[2][7]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it.^[11][7]
• 793 – Alcuin writes in a letter of hidden revels.^[6]
• c. 1218 – A synodal statute forbids celebrating marriages in taverns and at feasts.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A revel after a dinner, a drinking party followed by a procession of the guests.^[3][8][9]
2. Carousing, feasting, revelry.^[2][10]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) An immoderate meal; gluttony.^[11][6]
4. (Medieval Latin) Food, eating.^[11]

Related words

• cōmissātor

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes it from its near-synonyms: epulae is any meal, convivium a meal shared with company, dapes a sacrificial meal, epulum a solemn public banquet, and comissātiō a feast of gluttony.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
6. ^ a b c d e f 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
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
10. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
12. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften