exsecratio

Forms

exsecrātiō f (genitive exsecrātiōnis); third declension^[1] Also spelled execrātiō; the manuscripts use both spellings.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin exsecror (“to curse”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3] exsecror is formed from ex (“out”) and sacer (“sacred, accursed”),^[4] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *sakro- (“sacred”) and Proto-Indo-European *sh₂k-ro- (“sacred”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[6] who has people leaving amid evil omens and curses in the Pro Sestio.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the act of cursing: Cicero calls a wish that someone be shipwrecked a curse worthy of Thyestes.^[7] It is also the curse a man calls down on himself if he breaks a promise, a solemn oath: Cicero binds someone with such an oath and asks, of broken promises, where the oaths, the right hands and the embraces are.^[2][7] Sallust, Livy and Tacitus use it of such oaths.^[7] The Vulgate uses it for a thing to be cursed, an abomination.^[7] Church Latin also has profanation and the loss of consecration.^[8] English execration comes from it, first in the late 14th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of curses and of oaths.^[2][7][6]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust, of an oath.^[7][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of an oath.^[7][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate, of an abomination.^[7][6]
• late 14th century – English execration.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of cursing, a curse, imprecation, execration.^[2][7][1][8]
2. A curse called down on oneself if one breaks a promise, a solemn oath.^[2][7][1]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) An abomination;^[7][8] profanation, loss of consecration.^[8]

Related words

• exsecror
• sacer
• dīrae
• obtestātiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson