desolatio

Forms

dēsōlātiō f (genitive dēsōlātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin dēsōlō (“to leave alone, lay waste”) + -tiō.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Old Latin Bible (after 220 AD),^[3][4] where Jeremiah 25:18 has ponendas eas in desolationem, “to make them a desolation”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is a word of Christian Latin.^[2][5] Abstractly it meant desolation, devastation and loneliness; concretely, a desert.^[2][5] The phrase “abomination of desolation” from Mark 13:14 and Matthew 24:15 made it familiar, and Hilary and Jerome use it in their commentaries.^[4]

In medieval Latin it meant abandonment, devastation, a desert and affliction;^[6][7] Bede has it of the inhabitants who left a place because of its ruin.^[8] English took it over in the late 14th century as desolation, first in the sense of sorrow, partly through Old French.^[9]

Timeline

• after 220 AD – The Old Latin Bible uses it in Jeremiah and Mark.^[4][3]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for a desert and for desolation.^[2][3]
• 435/439 AD – Salvian uses it in De gubernatione Dei.^[2][3]
• first third of the 8th century – Bede uses it of a ruined place that its people left.^[8][3]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as desolation.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) desolation, devastation, ruin.^[2][5][10]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) solitude, abandonment.^[5][6]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A desert, a waste place.^[2][5]
4. (Medieval Latin) Grief, affliction.^[6][10]

Related words

• English desolation

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson