lotio

Forms

lōtiō f (genitive lōtiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lavō (“to wash”) + -tiō,^[2] formed on the participle stem ⟨lōt-⟩, beside ⟨laut-⟩.^[1][3] The verb lavō goes back to Proto-Italic *lowa- and Proto-Indo-European *(le-)louh₃- (“to wash”).^[3] The TLL treats it under lavātiō.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Vitruvius (c. 84–c. 25 BC) is the first to use it, in the plural, for washings.^[5][6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

Gaffiot also cites the late medical writer known as Pliny Valerianus.^[9] British Medieval Latin used it for the washing of the body, of sheep, of cloth and of ore, and figuratively for spiritual cleansing, as in baptism.^[10] English took it from Old French lotion about 1400, for a liquid applied to the skin,^[11] and it is the source of Italian lozione.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of washings.^[5][8]
• c. 1400 – English borrows it, through Old French, as lotion.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of washing.^[2][5][12]
2. (Medieval Latin) The washing of animals (especially sheep), cloth or ore.^[10]
3. (Medieval Latin, figurative) Spiritual cleansing, as in baptism.^[10]

Related words

• lavō
• lavātiō
• English lotion

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
10. ^ a b c 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
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson