Etymologically
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consilior

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kõːˈsɪ.li.ɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [konˈsiː.li.or][1]

Forms

cōnsilior (present infinitive cōnsiliārī, perfect active cōnsiliātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cōnsilium (“counsel, deliberation”), a deponent verb formed on the noun.[2][3][1] De Vaan derives cōnsilium from cōnsul, which belongs with cōnsulō (“to deliberate, consult”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Caesar and Cicero.[3][2] Caesar has cōnsiliandī causā colloquī, “to confer in order to take counsel”, and Cicero's letters to Atticus speak of a mission about which it is hard to take counsel.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it rare but classical.[3] Besides “deliberate” it meant to give advice, with the dative: Horace asks the chorus of a play to favour the good and advise them as a friend.[2][3] Livy's epitomes and Tacitus also use it.[3] The TLL notes that manuscripts and editions often confuse it with conciliō.[5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it also means to plan, meditate or work something out.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in his letters to Atticus.[2][7]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of conferring to take counsel.[3][7]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of giving advice.[2][7]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it in the Histories.[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. to take counsel, deliberate.[2][3]
  2. (with dative) to give advice to, counsel.[2][1]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) to plan, meditate.[6]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de