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