expostulatio

Forms

expostulātiō f (genitive expostulātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin expostulō (“to demand urgently; to remonstrate”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3] De Vaan treats expostulō, found from Plautus on, under poscō (“to ask for, demand”), whose ancestor he reconstructs as Proto-Indo-European *prḱ-sk-e/o- (“to ask”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero,^[5] who uses it both of a pressing demand, in the speech on his house, and of a complaint, in the Pro Cluentio.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it rare but Classical.^[8] Its two senses, an urgent demand and a protest or complaint, run side by side:^[6][7][9] Tacitus says that Tiberius gave way little by little to the expostulatio of individuals,^[9][8] and Cicero writes of expostulationes with the absent Pompey.^[8]

In Medieval Latin it kept the sense of an emphatic demand, and was also used of a claim to something and of entreaty.^[10][5] In Church Latin it means an expostulation or complaint.^[11] English borrowed it in the 1580s as expostulation, first for a friendly remonstrance.^[12]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a pressing demand and of a complaint.^[6][7][5]
• 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy uses the plural.^[7][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of insistent requests that made Tiberius give way.^[9][5]
• 1580s – English borrows it as expostulation.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pressing demand, insistent request.^[6][7][9]
2. A protest, complaint.^[2][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) A claim (to something).^[10]
4. (Medieval Latin) An entreaty.^[10][5]

Related words

• postulātiō
• English expostulation

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
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 e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com