Etymologically
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consultatio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kõː.sʊɫˈtaː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kon.sulˈtat.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

cōnsultātiō f (genitive cōnsultātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cōnsultō2 (“to deliberate”) + -tiō.[2][1] cōnsultō2 is formed from cōnsulō (“to deliberate, consult”),[3] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *kom-se/ol-e/o- (“to consult”), from com- and Proto-Indo-European *s(e)lh₁-e/o- (“to take”).[3] He compares Ancient Greek εἷλον (heîlon, “took”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[3] in whom all deliberation will be taken away from someone at once, amota ei erit omnis consultatio.[4] Köbler dates it from Terence.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is the consideration and discussion of a problem, deliberation;[2] Lewis & Short call it rare but classical.[6] Livy uses it of meetings for debate, in which war was being plotted, and of the matter under discussion.[2] In rhetoric the Rhetorica ad Herennium says that deliberative oratory consists in consultatio.[2] It is also the putting of a question, a consultation: Pliny the Younger writes to Trajan that a matter is worth consulting him about, and Cicero has lawyers discussing the questions put to them.[2] Church Latin has it as consultation.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, “deliberation”.[4][3][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence.[4][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of deliberation and of questions put to lawyers.[2][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of meetings for debate.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Deliberation, consideration;[2][6][1] a meeting for debate; a problem under discussion.[2]
  2. (rhetoric) The part of a speech that discusses general principles.[2]
  3. A consultation, the putting of a question;[2][1][7] the question put, an inquiry.[2][1]

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 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson