hortatus

Forms

hortātus m (genitive hortātūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin hortor (“to urge, encourage”) + -tus, an action noun.^[2][1][3] De Vaan explains hortor as a frequentative of horior, attested in Ennius; it is based on a participle ⟨*hortus⟩ or syncopated from ⟨horitāre⟩, also found once in Ennius.^[4] He traces horior to Proto-Italic *χerj- and a present Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer-i-, whose meaning he gives as “to enjoy”, from “to be excited”.^[4] He compares Oscan herest (“to want”) and Ancient Greek χαίρω (khaírō, “to be glad”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,^[5] who in the Pro Archia says his voice was shaped by this man's encouragement and teaching (huius hortatu praeceptisque conformata).^[6]

Semantic evolution

It means encouragement or exhortation.^[2][6] In classical prose it occurs only in the ablative singular, hortatu, “at the urging” of someone, from Cicero and Caesar on;^[6][3] the poets use the ablative plural from Ovid on, and other case forms appear from Statius and Tacitus.^[3] Silius Italicus has it with an objective genitive, an incitement to glory, and Macrobius uses the dative.^[6] The grammarian Charisius lists it among synonyms.^[3] Köbler lists its use in medieval capitularies and church councils.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the ablative hortatu.^[6][3][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar writes suorum omnium hortatu, “at the urging of all his men”.^[6][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses the plural.^[6][3][5]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses other case forms.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Encouragement, exhortation, incitement.^[2][6]

Related words

• horior

Usage notes

Gaffiot also lists hortātus as the perfect participle of hortor, “having encouraged”.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.