Etymologically
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hortatio

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Forms

hortātiō f (genitive hortātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin hortor (“to urge, encourage”) + -tiō, a noun of action.[2][1] De Vaan explains that verb as a frequentative of horior (“to encourage, urge”), built on an old past participle or shortened from ⟨horitāre⟩, which Ennius uses.[3] He traces the simple verb to Proto-Italic *χerj- and to a present Proto-Indo-European *ǵher-i- (“to enjoy”), with a sense development from being excited to enjoying.[3] Cognate with Ancient Greek χαίρω (khaírō, “to be glad”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[4] who uses it in his letters for an urging or exhortation, as when he tells his brother Quintus that he now pleads with him not by exhortation or advice but by a brother's prayers.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In classical prose it is the act of encouraging or exhorting someone:[2][5] Cicero has it with ad and the accusative for an exhortation to something,[6] and Livy uses it of urging on the rowers of a ship.[6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it kept the sense of encouragement and exhortation.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of exhortation in his letters and speeches.[5][6][4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of urging on rowers.[6][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Encouragement, exhortation, urging.[2][5][6]

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes hortātiō, which speaks to the will and always aims at an action, from monitiō, which speaks to the judgment and offers a thought, and through it an act.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper