expressio

Forms

expressiō f (genitive expressiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from exprimō “to press out” with the suffix -tiō.^[2][1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Vitruvius, of forcing out air and water.^[2] Köbler dates Vitruvius c. 84–c. 25 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Vitruvius it meant forcing out, expulsion of air or water, the rising section of a water main, and in architecture a projecting moulding.^[2][6] In Palladius it meant pressing out honey, and in Augustine pressing, squeezing.^[6][7] Lewis and Short call it post-Augustan.^[6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant expression, a pressing out.^[8] Medieval Latin used it for emphatic utterance, emphasis.^[9] It survives in Italian espressione and French expression, and Late Latin expressiō gave English expression in the early 15th century, first “pressing out”, then “putting into words”.^[1][4]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of forcing out water.^[2][5]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of pressing.^[7][5]
• early 15th century – English expression is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Forcing out; a rising section of a water main.^[2]
2. (architecture) A projecting moulding.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) Emphasis; expression.^[9][8]

Related words

• exprimō
• premō
• English expression

References

1. ^ a b c 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill