irritatio

Forms

irrītātiō f (genitive irrītātiōnis); third declension^[1] It is also spelled inrītātiō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin irrītō (“to provoke, excite”) + -tiō, a noun of action.^[2][1][3] De Vaan takes that verb to be probably a denominative from Proto-Italic *rīto- (“stirred”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃riH-to- (“whirled, stirred”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Livy on;^[3] Livy says that this was the first provocation of feelings, after an army had ravaged Attica and returned with plunder.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Valerius Maximus, Seneca and Tacitus use it of whatever stirs a person to a feeling or action:^[2][3] Seneca speaks of a natural restlessness in the mind that moves people to change their homes,^[3] and Tacitus says that the women of the Germans are corrupted by no enticements of banquets.^[3][5] In medicine Scribonius Largus defines tenesmos as an irritation of the last part of the bowel,^[2][6] and Gellius speaks of things contrived to excite the appetite.^[6][5]

In the Vulgate it is provocation to anger, as in Sirach, where it stands beside īra,^[5] and Jerome remarks that the Latin versions of Ezekiel render one Greek word by irrītātiō and exacerbātiō.^[3] Medieval writers kept the sense of provocation, and a record of 1292 uses it for the baiting of a bear.^[7] The Ecclesiastical Latin dictionary of Stelten also gives the sense “annulment”.^[8]

Timeline

• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of provocation to anger.^[2][3][9]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of a natural urge in the mind.^[3][9]
• c. 47 AD – Scribonius Largus uses it in medicine.^[2][6][9]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of the enticements of banquets.^[3][9]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of provocation to anger.^[5][9]
• 1292 – A record uses it of the baiting of a bear.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Incitement to some feeling or action, stimulation.^[2][6]
2. Incitement to anger, provocation.^[2][5]
3. (medicine) Irritation of a sensitive part.^[2][6]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Annulment.^[8]

Related words

• irrītō
• irrītāmentum

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de