Etymologically
Log in

conciliatio

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 19:49. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔŋ.kɪ.liˈaː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kon̠ʲ.t͡ʃi.liˈat.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

conciliātiō f (genitive conciliātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin conciliō (“to bring together, win over”) + -tiō.[2][3][1][4] The verb is formed from concilium (“assembly, council”), which de Vaan lists among the derivatives of calō1 (“to call”), going back to Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero,[6][3] who in the De officiis speaks of the bond of union and fellowship of the whole human race.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From a bond of union it passed to the act of winning someone over: Cicero uses it of gaining favour for oneself, and in rhetoric of disposing the hearers favourably towards the speaker.[2][3] Lewis and Short note that it belongs to Cicero and Quintilian.[3]

In philosophy Cicero used it for the natural attraction of a living being to what suits it, in his account of Zeno's view of the highest good,[2] a rendering of the Stoic notion of oikeiosis;[1] Seneca uses it of being content with one's own constitution.[2] Donatus remarks that every agreement was called a conciliātiō.[4] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means reconciliation or union.[7] It was borrowed as conciliazione and conciliación.[1]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a bond of union and of winning favour.[2][6]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it in rhetoric.[3][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of contentment with one's own constitution.[2][6]
  • c. 310–380 AD – Donatus says every agreement was so called.[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A bond of union, connection.[2][3]
  2. The gaining (of favour) for oneself;[2] (rhetoric) the winning over of the hearers, conciliation.[2][3]
  3. (philosophy) Natural attraction or inclination (towards something).[2][1]
  4. Contentment, acceptance (of one's state).[2]
  5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Reconciliation.[7]

References

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