Etymologically
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facesso

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [faˈkɛs.soː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [faˈt͡ʃɛs.so][1]

Forms

facessō (present infinitive facessere, perfect active facessī, supine facessītum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin faciō (“to do, make”) + -essō, an intensive verb like capessō from capiō.[2][1][3] De Vaan traces faciō to Proto-Italic *fak-i- and to the aorist of Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put”), whose ⟨k⟩ spread through the whole verb in Italic.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it in the Menaechmi of carrying out an order,[2][3] and Ennius has robbers carrying out commands and tells people to be off.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Transitively it is to do eagerly, carry out, mostly in poetry: Ennius' robbers carry out orders, and Virgil has commands and a mother's instructions done;[3] Ovid tells a lover to play a thousand jokes.[2][3] In Cicero's usage it means to cause trouble: to make difficulties for someone, to bring a danger on an innocent man,[3] and in law rem facessere is to bring a case as plaintiff.[2] Intransitively it means to go away, be off: Cicero wants certain people to keep away from all part in the state for a while, and Livy has people ordered out of the city.[3] Plautus' Rudens plays on both senses: one man says he is pressing his case, the other that if he were decent he would clear off.[3] Stelten gives "depart, do eagerly, cause" for Church Latin.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of carrying out an order and of pressing a case.[2][3]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of carrying out commands and of going away.[3][2]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of causing trouble.[3]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of leaving the city.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To carry out eagerly, perform, execute (orders); to perpetrate.[2][3][1]
  2. To bring about, cause (trouble, danger); (law) rem facessere, to bring a case, be the plaintiff.[2][3]
  3. (intransitive) To go away, depart, be off.[2][3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson