Etymologically
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festinatio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [fɛs.tiːˈnaː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [fes.tiˈnat.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

festīnātiō f (genitive festīnātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is formed from festīnō (“to hurry”) with the suffix -tiō.[2][3] De Vaan, following Schrijver, traces ⟨festīnō⟩ to a noun Proto-Italic *fristi- (“haste”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhristi-, cognate with Welsh brys (“haste”);[4] Vine thinks the verb was built on an older adjective, the later attested festīnus (“hasty”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero,[3] who writes in a letter that he hurried home with all speed.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means speed, haste, hurry, also in the plural, and promptness in dealing with a situation.[2][5] Often it is undue haste or impatience, as in Cicero's Philippics: “my haste is greedy not only for victory but for speed”.[2] Pliny the Elder uses it of hastening a process, of wine made from unripe grapes.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “haste, hurry, dispatch, speed”.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of hurrying home and of impatient haste.[2][3]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of hastening wine.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Haste, hurry, speed; promptness.[2][5][1][6]
  2. Undue haste, impatience.[2]
  3. A hastening of a process.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson