deprecatio

Forms

dēprecātiō f (genitive dēprecātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēprecor (“to beg the removal of; plead”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3] dēprecor is a compound of dē- and precor (“to pray”), made from prex (“prayer”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *prek- and the root noun Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- (“question”), the root of poscō and procus.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the OLD find it first in Plautus;^[4][2] in the Captivi a character says there is no pleading and no escape for his treachery and misdeeds.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is a prayer to avert something: Cicero speaks of averting a danger,^[5] and Pliny the Elder of the prayer of the Vestal Tuccia when she was accused of unchastity.^[2] It is also an invocation of the gods, especially to punish a perjurer, as in Cicero's speech for Roscius the actor, and in Pliny an imprecation.^[2][5] More often it is an appeal to pity, an entreaty or plea, and with the genitive a plea in mitigation of a deed or a fault: Cicero, Hirtius and Quintilian use it so.^[2][5] In rhetoric it is the plea for pardon in which one admits the fault and asks forgiveness, as the Rhetorica ad Herennium defines it, rendering the Greek συγγνώμη.^[2][5] Servius explains execration as the deprecation of adversities.^[3] In the Vulgate it is prayer, as in the Letter of James,^[5] and in Church and Medieval Latin it is prayer and supplication;^[6][7] Niermeyer also gives "aid", a tax.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of pleading.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of averting danger and invoking the gods.^[5][8]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of the prayer of the Vestal Tuccia.^[2]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate of prayer.^[5]
• c. 1500 – deprecation appears in English, as a prayer to avert evil.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A prayer to avert or remove something.^[2][5][1]
2. An invocation of the gods (in prayer or oath); an imprecation.^[2][5][1]
3. An appeal to pity, entreaty, plea; a plea in mitigation.^[2][5]
4. (rhetoric) A plea for pardon in which the fault is admitted.^[2][5]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Prayer, supplication.^[6][7]
6. (Medieval Latin) An aid, a tax.^[7]

Word family

• dēprecātiuncula

Related words

• dēprecābilis
• dēprecābundus
• dēprecāneus
• dēprecātīvus
• dēprecātor
• dēprecātōrius
• dēprecātrix
• dēprecor
• English deprecation

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com