expiatio

Forms

expiātiō f (genitive expiātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin expiō (“to atone for, purify”) + -tiō.^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero (81–43 BC),^[4][5] who asks to which offended gods an atonement is owed: quibus dis violatis expiatio debeatur.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Cicero also uses it of rites that avert the evil foretold by portents (portentorum expiationes).^[2] Livy has it for the ritual purification of shrines and for atonement for a broken treaty.^[2][3] L&S calls the word rare but classical.^[3]

The Vulgate uses it in the ritual laws of the Old Testament,^[3] and in Ecclesiastical Latin it is atonement for sin.^[6] Medieval charters grant land “for the expiation” of the donor's sins (pro expiatione delictorum).^[7][8] English borrowed it in the 15th century as expiation.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of atonement owed to the gods and of the averting of portents.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of the purification of shrines.^[2][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in the ritual laws of Exodus.^[3][5]
• 749 – An Anglo-Saxon charter, in a 12th-century copy, gives land for the expiation of the donor's sins.^[7]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as expiation.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. An atonement, expiation.^[2][3]
2. The averting of evil omens by expiatory rites.^[2]
3. A purification.^[2][8]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Atonement for sin.^[6][7]

Related words

• expiō
• English expiation

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c 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
8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com