meditatio

Forms

meditātiō f (genitive meditātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin meditor (“to think over, practise”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3] De Vaan derives meditor, probably, from an old participle *meditos of medeor in an older sense “to give judgement”, so that the verb first meant to judge constantly, to contemplate.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from the Rhetorica ad Herennium, which warns that a certain kind of opening makes the hearer suspect premeditation and artifice.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

It is the act of thinking something over: Cicero calls the dwelling on a future evil foolish, and Tacitus has a man leave a decision to his own reflection.^[3][2] It is also the planning or devising of something, and an intention.^[2] Most often, Lewis & Short say, it is preparation and practice: Cicero names training, practice and habit together, and Pliny the Younger speaks of exercises on the field.^[3][2] In Church Latin it is meditation, reflection and contemplation.^[6]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – the Rhetorica ad Herennium of premeditation.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of practice and of dwelling on future evils.^[2][3][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of reflection and intention.^[2][5]
• c. 1200 – English meditation is borrowed from it, partly through French.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Reflection, contemplation, pondering; a thought or idea.^[2][3][1]
2. Contemplation of a course of action, intention.^[2][1]
3. The devising or planning of something.^[2][1]
4. Practice, rehearsal, preparation; an exercise, especially a rhetorical one.^[2][3][1]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Meditation, contemplation.^[6]

Word family

• meditatiuncula

Related words

• meditābundus
• meditātē
• meditātīvus
• meditātor
• meditātōrium
• meditor
• English meditation

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com