Etymologically
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expressio

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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]

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