insectatio

Forms

īnsectātiō f (genitive īnsectātiōnis); third declension^[1] Manuscripts sometimes confuse it with īnsecūtiō.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin īnsector (“to pursue, harry”) + -tiō.^[3][1][2] De Vaan lists īnsector among the derivatives of sequor (“to follow”),^[4] which he traces to Proto-Italic *sekʷ-e/o- (“to follow”) and Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ-e/o- (“to follow, accompany”).^[4] Cognate with Sanskrit सचते (sácate, “to follow”), Ancient Greek ἕπομαι (hépomai, “to follow”) and Lithuanian sèkti (“to follow”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in a letter of Brutus to Cicero and in Livy;^[2] Brutus complains of the insolence of men and their railing against him, tanta est hominum insolentia et nostri insectatio.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is hostile pursuit, as in Livy's getting troops across without disorder or pursuit by the enemy.^[3] More often it is pursuit with hostile policy or words, a verbal attack, censure or railing:^[3] Livy speaks of attacks on the leading men, and Seneca asks what need there is of abuse or of attack.^[3][5] Lewis & Short note that it is classical but not in Cicero or Caesar.^[5] Juvencus uses it in dactylic verse.^[2]

Timeline

• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of pursuit by the enemy and of attacks on leading men.^[3][5][6]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of verbal attack.^[3][6]
• c. 325 AD – Juvencus, in verse.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Hostile pursuit.^[3][5][1]
2. A verbal attack, criticism, censure, railing.^[3][5][1]

Related words

• īnsector
• sequor
• īnsequor

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de