evocatus

Forms

ēvocātus m (genitive ēvocātī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ēvocō (“to call out, summon”), its perfect passive participle used as a noun.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Caesar uses it of a soldier called back to service,^[3][4] and the first inscription the TLL lists is CIL I² 1669.^[5]

Semantic evolution

According to the OLD it first meant a man whom a commander had specially invited to serve under him; later it was limited to senior soldiers who had completed their service; from the early Empire on it meant former members of the praetorian and urban cohorts.^[2] The TLL describes it as a military rank used from the last years of the Republic until about the time of Constantine, recorded in many inscriptions and abbreviated there in many ways.^[5] Sallust also uses the plural,^[4] and Conte gives the sense “supernumerary” from Suetonius.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of re-enlisted veterans.^[3][4][6]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses the plural ēvocātī.^[4][6]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of men outside the regular roll.^[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A man specially invited by a commander to serve under him.^[2]
2. A veteran called back to military service after completing it.^[2][4][1]
3. From the early Empire, a former member of the praetorian or urban cohorts serving on.^[2][5]

Usage notes

The word is also simply the participle of ēvocō, “called out”.^[4][7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T. (1890), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: American Book Company
5. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.