laesio

Forms

laesiō f (genitive laesiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin laedō (“to hurt”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it once, in the De oratore, for a figure of speech: the deliberate provoking of the opponent, rendering the Greek term for “harm”.^[3][4][2]

Semantic evolution

After Cicero it was rare until Late Latin and appears in poetry only in Corippus.^[3] Its general sense, an injury or hurt, is found in Lactantius and the Vulgate,^[5][4] and the jurists of the Digest used it for damage to someone's rights or property.^[5][4] Inscriptions also apply it to a hurt to the feelings, and spell it lēsio.^[4][3] Pelagius equates any laesiō with tribulation.^[3]

In Medieval Latin it meant a wound or lesion, a wrong or injustice, the breach of an agreement (laesiō pācis, breach of the peace) and, in laesiō maiestātis, the crime of lese-majesty.^[6] British writers also used it of a military attack.^[7] English lesion came from it in the early 15th century through Old French lesion.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a rhetorical figure in the De oratore.^[3][4][9]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius writes that a hurt stirs up pain.^[5][9]
• 297–310 AD – Arnobius has the first plural.^[3][9]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate speaks of laesiōnēs rēgis, harm done to the king.^[4][9]
• early 15th century – English lesion, “damage, injury”, is first recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. An injury, harm, hurt.^[2][5]
2. (rhetoric) A part of a speech meant to damage the opponent's case.^[2][4]
3. (Late Latin, law) Damage to a person's rights or property.^[5][4]
4. (Medieval Latin) A lesion or wound.^[6][10]
5. (Medieval Latin) A wrong, injustice, offence; a breach, as in laesiō pācis.^[6]
6. (Medieval Latin) laesiō maiestātis: lese-majesty.^[6]

Related words

• English lesion

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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 d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson