initiatio

Forms

initiātiō f (genitive initiātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin initiō (“to initiate”) + -tiō.^[2][1] The verb comes from initium (“a beginning”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Suetonius, in the life of Nero, speaks of the Eleusinian rites, from whose initiatio the impious are barred.^[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Christian writers used it of pagan mysteries: Tertullian contrasts pious and impious initiations, and Arnobius mentions the rites of initiation of Jupiter Sabazius.^[5] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means initiation or participation in general.^[6] English took initiation in the 1580s, from French or directly from Latin.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 75–150 AD – Suetonius uses it of initiation into the Eleusinian mysteries.^[2][7]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it in the Apology.^[5][7]
• 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it of the rites of Jupiter Sabazius.^[5][7]
• 1580s – English borrows it as initiation.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Initiation into secret rites or mysteries.^[2][4][5]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Initiation, participation.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de