devoco

Forms

dēvocō (present infinitive dēvocāre, perfect active dēvocāvī, supine dēvocātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + vocō (“to call”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan explains vocō as a denominative from the stem of vōx (“voice”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *wōkʷs and Proto-Indo-European *uōkʷs (“voice”).^[4] Cognate with Umbrian subocau (“I invoke”) and Sanskrit वाक् (vā́k, “voice, speech”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from the Rhetorica ad Herennium and Cicero on,^[3][5] where it means to call someone away or divert them from one thing to another.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to call down from a higher place:^[2] Livy speaks of calling Jupiter and the other gods down to help, and Cicero says that Socrates first called philosophy down from the sky.^[2][6] Catullus uses it of Trivia drawn down from her heavenly circuit, and Tibullus of a song that calls bones from the pyre,^[2] and Horace of stars brought down from the sky by spells.^[6][7] It also means to call away or summon from a place: Cicero speaks of calling someone from a province to glory and a triumph, and Nepos of inviting to dinner all those seen in the forum.^[2][6][7] Figuratively it is to divert from a course or occupation,^[2] as when Cicero says that greed did not draw someone from his course to plunder, and Caesar has in dubium devocare, to put at risk.^[2][6] Valerius Maximus uses rem ad populum devocare for referring a matter to the people.^[2][7] Church Latin keeps the sense to call away or down.^[8]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium, of diverting.^[2][3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of calling philosophy down from the sky.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of calling the gods down to help.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To call down (from a higher place); to draw down by spells.^[2][6][1]
2. To call away, summon (from a place); to invite.^[2][6][1]
3. To call away, divert (from one activity to another).^[2][6]
4. In dubium dēvocāre, to put at risk.^[6][7]

Related words

• vocō
• vōx

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 n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson