commemoratio

Forms

commemorātiō f (genitive commemorātiōnis); third declension^[1] It is also spelled conmemorātiō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin commemorō (“to call to mind, mention”) + -tiō.^[2][1] commemorō is formed from memor (“mindful”), which de Vaan lists among the derivatives of meminī (“to remember”), from the perfect stem Proto-Italic *me-mon-, Proto-Indo-European *me-mon-; older etymologies derived memor from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to remind”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Terence has it first, in the Andria: “this reminder of yours is like a reproach for a kindness forgotten”.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

It is first the calling of something to another's mind, a reminder.^[2] It is also remembrance or memory, as when Cicero hopes that the memory of his name will not end with his life, and a mention or citation, as in the Rhetorica ad Herennium.^[2] Cicero uses it of a record, saying that many things last longer in record than they could by nature.^[2] The TLL finds it often in Cicero, seven times in Livy and five in Valerius Maximus, but only once or twice in most other writers.^[6] In Medieval Latin it is also a commemoration, a mass for the dead, a written memoir, a memorandum, and a kind of charter.^[7] Church Latin glosses it remembrance, commemoration, mention.^[8]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence of a reminder that sounds like a reproach.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the memory of his name.^[2][5]
• late 14th century – English commemoration is borrowed through French.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A calling to mind, reminder.^[2][3]
2. Remembrance, memory.^[2][8][1]
3. A mention, citation; a record.^[2][8]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A commemoration; a mass for the dead.^[7][8]
5. (Medieval Latin) Written recollections; a memorandum; a charter.^[7]

Related words

• commemorō
• memor
• English commemoration

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com