dedicatio

Forms

dēdicātiō f (genitive dēdicātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēdicō (“to dedicate”) + -tiō.^[2][3][4] De Vaan thinks dicō (“to proclaim, dedicate”) may have been formed back from compounds such as ⟨dēdicāre⟩, built on the root noun of dīcō (“to say”), from Proto-Indo-European *deiḱ- (“to show”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It is an act or rite that confers sanctity, a dedication or consecration, and the ceremonial opening of a public building: Livy has the dedication of a temple, Pliny the Elder of a theatre and Suetonius of a bridge.^[2][7] The Vulgate uses it of the dedication of the house of God and of a statue.^[7] Hyginus the land surveyor writes that colonies were named from the new dedication of land to cultivation.^[2] Niermeyer records the medieval sense of the yearly festival of a church's dedication.^[8] Church Latin glosses it dedication.^[9] English dedication comes from it, partly through Old French, from the late 14th century, first of consecrating to a deity.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.^[6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of the dedication of a temple.^[7][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate of the dedication of the house of God.^[7][6]
• late 14th century – English dedication.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Dedication, consecration; the ceremonial opening of a public building.^[2][7][1][9]
2. Devotion to a purpose.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) The festival of a church's dedication.^[8]

Related words

• dēdicō

References

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