consolatio

Forms

cōnsōlātiō f (genitive cōnsōlātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cōnsōlor (“to console”) + -tiō.^[2][1] De Vaan lists cōnsōlor among the derivatives of sōlor (“to comfort”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *sōl- and Proto-Indo-European *sōlh₂- (“mercy, comfort”), comparing Ancient Greek ἱλάσκομαι (hiláskomai, “to appease”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero, who writes that someone supported all his family with every service: tears, work and consolation.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

It is the act of consoling and also the title of consolatory books, such as Cicero's own Consolatio.^[2] Cicero also uses it of allaying fears, of the state of being consoled, as one who will die with greater consolation, and of a consoling fact: “one consolation sustains me, that you lacked no duty of affection”.^[2] Lewis & Short call it a word of good prose, most frequent in Cicero, and Seneca uses it in his dialogues.^[5][6] In Medieval Latin it also meant help or support, redress, sustenance, the giving of alms, and an extra allowance beyond a prebend.^[7] Church Latin glosses it consolation, comfort.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of consolation and of a consoling thought.^[2][4]
• 390–406 AD – the Vulgate uses it in the Letter to the Hebrews.^[6][4]
• late 14th century – English consolation is borrowed through French.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Consolation, comfort; a consolatory treatise.^[2][5][8][1]
2. The allaying of fears.^[2]
3. A consoling fact or circumstance.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) Help, support; sustenance; almsgiving.^[7]
5. (Medieval Latin) An extra allowance beyond a prebend.^[7]

Related words

• cōnsōlor
• sōlācium
• English consolation

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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com