erectio

Forms

ērēctiō f (genitive ērēctiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ērigō (“to set upright”) + -tiō.^[2][3][4] Ērigō is a compound of ex- and regō.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Vitruvius is the first to use it,^[2][3][5] for the act of setting something upright, such as the raising of beams.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Classical Latin has it only as a technical noun of action, “setting up, raising”.^[2] Christian writers added figurative senses: the Vulgate uses it for pride or arrogance,^[4][6] and Jerome reports that some took the Hebrew letter name samech to mean “erection” or “support”.^[3]

In medieval Latin it meant raising and building, the raising of a part of the body,^[7][8] and also a ruler's accession to the throne.^[6] Medical texts from Salerno use it of the sexual erection.^[8] English borrowed it in the 15th century, first in the sense “establishment”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of raising beams.^[2][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of pride.^[4][5]
• 841–843 – Dhuoda uses it of the raising of heads and horns.^[7][5]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as ereccioun.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of setting upright, erection.^[2][4]
2. (Late Latin) Pride, insolence.^[4][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) Building, raising of a structure; raising of part of the body.^[7][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) Accession to the throne.^[6]
5. (Medieval Latin, medicine) Sexual erection.^[8]

Related words

• ērigō

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c d 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