Etymologically
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missaticum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [mɪsˈsaː.tɪ.kũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [misˈsaː.ti.kum][1]

Forms

missāticum n (genitive missāticī); second declension[1] Also missāticus (masculine), and messāticum, misāticum, missiāticum.[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin missus (“envoy; sent”) + -āticum, from the missus who carried out the king's commissions.[1][2][3] The verb behind it is mittō (“to send”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is the Lex Francorum Chamavorum (c. 800), which sets the penalty for killing a royal envoy “when he has been sent on a missāticum”.[4][2] Wiktionary dates it from 806.[1]

Semantic evolution

It first means an errand or journey made on someone else's orders, especially the round of a royal envoy (missus dominicus), and then his office, the district he covers and the mandate he is given.[3][2] It was also a diplomatic mission, the dignity of a papal legate, and a message or diplomatic note.[3][2] Tenants owed their lord missātica, journeys as a labour service, beside cartage and handwork.[2] Niermeyer records a figurative sense “calling, vocation”.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 800 – The Lex Francorum Chamavorum: the mission of a royal envoy.[4][2]
  • 819 – A capitulary: envoys sent on a missāticum.[2]
  • 887 – A diploma of Charles III: abbots used to perform the royal missāticum.[2]
  • c. 1110 – The Instituta Cnuti spell it missiāticum.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) An errand, a journey made on another's orders.[3][2]
  2. (Medieval Latin) The official tour of a royal envoy (missus dominicus); his office, mandate and district.[3][2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A diplomatic or military mission; the dignity of a papal legate.[2][3]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A journey owed as service by a tenant.[2]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A message, notice; a diplomatic note.[3][1]
  6. (Medieval Latin, figurative) A calling, vocation.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Novum Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC (1957–), Copenhagen / Geneva / Paris: Union Académique Internationale; IRHT
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de