imprecatio

Forms

imprecātiō f (genitive imprecātiōnis); third declension^[1] It is also spelled inprecātiō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin imprecor (“to call down upon”) + -tiō.^[2][1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Seneca is the first to use it, in De beneficiis and the Letters, for the calling down of curses on someone.^[2][3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The TLL finds it only from the philosopher Seneca on.^[4] Pliny the Elder speaks of a dire imprecation, and Ammianus Marcellinus of wicked imprecations.^[3][6]

In Late Latin it was also used in a good sense, for a prayer or blessing: Jerome uses it of a bishop's blessing.^[3][6] The DMLBS calls the sense “prayer, supplication” Late Latin and records it in Bede,^[7] and Niermeyer and Stelten give both prayer and curse.^[8][9] English imprecation comes from it.^[10]

Timeline

• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it for cursing.^[2][3][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder speaks of a dire imprecation.^[3][6][5]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it for a bishop's blessing.^[3][6][5]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses the plural for wicked curses.^[3][5]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as imprecation, “a curse”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The calling down of curses, imprecation.^[2][3]
2. (Late Latin) A prayer, invocation, blessing.^[3][7][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) An earnest entreaty or admonition.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b 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
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften