Etymologically
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devotus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [deːˈwoː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [deˈvɔː.tus][1]

Forms

dēvōtus (feminine dēvōta, neuter dēvōtum); first/second-declension participle[1] The superlative is dēvōtissimus.[2][3]

Etymology

It is the perfect passive participle from Latin dēvoveō (“to vow, consecrate, curse”), used as an adjective.[2][4][5] dēvoveō is a compound of dē- and voveō (“to vow”),[5] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *wow-eje/o- (“to promise”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁uogʷʰ-eie- (“to promise”).[6] Cognate with Sanskrit ओहते (óhate, “to praise, announce”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Catullus,[7] who has accursed perjuries, periuria devota.[3]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense, from vowing to the gods of the underworld, is accursed or execrable:[3] Horace writes that the accursed tree did not kill him, and Ovid has heu dēvōta domus, “alas, accursed house”.[2] It also means devoted or zealously attached:[2] Seneca writes that everyone professed himself given up and devoted, Juvenal speaks of a devoted client, and Suetonius has the superlative dēvōtissimī.[2][3] It is also used of devotion to a thing, as in Phaedrus' daughter devoted to wine, Lucan's old man devoted to sacred rites, and Suetonius' equestrian order devoted to the stage and the arena.[2] Caesar has the masculine plural dēvōtī as a noun, devoted followers.[3] In Christian Latin it means devout, pious, devoted to God,[3][8] and Cassiodorus uses it of obedience to the authorities.[3] Medieval Latin adds compliant and even stupid, and as a noun a person vowed to a saint, or a hypocrite.[9] English devout (about 1200) comes from it through Old French devot, and devote (1580s) directly.[5]

Timeline

  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus, of accursed perjuries.[3][7]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar, dēvōtī, devoted followers.[3][7]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace, of an accursed tree.[2][7]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of devoted supporters.[2][7]
  • c. 1200 – Borrowed into English as devout, through Old French.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Accursed, execrable.[2][3]
  2. Devoted, zealously attached, to a person or to a thing;[2][3][1] as a noun, dēvōtī, devoted followers.[3]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Devout, pious, faithful.[3][8][9]
  4. (Late Latin) Obedient to the authorities.[3]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Compliant, gracious;[9] stupid.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill