Etymologically
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discessio

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Forms

discessiō f (genitive discessiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin discēdō (“to go apart, depart”) + -tiō.[2][1][3] De Vaan traces cēdō to Proto-Italic *kesd-e/o- (“to go away”) and, following Lubotsky, to Proto-Indo-European *ḱiesdʰ- (“to drive away; go away”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Terence on,[3] whose Andria speaks of a separation of husband and wife, which may the gods forbid.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is a going away or withdrawal: Tacitus has a man left alone by the departure of the others, and Gellius uses it of the separations of the stars.[2] In the senate it is the division for a vote, and ⟨discessiōnem facere⟩ is to call for a division: Cicero speaks of a vote taken in favour of a man's proposal.[2] It is also a split or schism, as of a crowd, and the secession of the plebs from the patricians in Sallust.[2] Lewis & Short call it very rare.[5] Köbler dates it from Cicero, and Church Latin glosses it departure, separation, revolt.[6][7]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence of a separation of husband and wife.[2][3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a division in the senate.[2][6]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust of the secession of the plebs.[2][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of a departure.[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A going away, departure, withdrawal.[2][1][7]
  2. A division of the senate for a vote;[2][5] discessiōnem facere, to call for a division.[2]
  3. A split, schism; a divorce; a separation, secession.[2][5][1][7]

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 k l m 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. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson