haesitatio

Forms

haesitātiō f (genitive haesitātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin haesitō (“to stick, hesitate”) + -tiō.^[2][3][1] De Vaan lists haesitō among the derivatives of haereō (“to stick”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *χais-ē-; he finds no credible comparison outside Italic.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Cicero on.^[5] In De oratore he exclaims at the fear, the doubt, the faltering and drawing out of words: quanta haesitatio tractusque verborum.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It is first a faltering in speech, a stammering, as in Cicero and in Quintilian, who calls it unsightly.^[2][6] From this it came to mean mental hesitation, irresolution or doubt: Cicero writes of his own hesitation in a letter.^[2][6] Lewis & Short call the word rare but good prose.^[6] Medieval writers use it for doubt and uncertainty, fear, and delay, as in the phrase sine ulla haesitatione.^[7][8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of faltering speech and of hesitation.^[2][6][5]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian, of unsightly stammering.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A faltering in speech, stammering.^[2][6][1]
2. Hesitation, irresolution, doubt, perplexity.^[2][6][1][9]
3. (Medieval Latin) Delay; fear.^[7]

Related words

• haesitō
• haereō

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson