oblata

Forms

oblāta f (genitive oblātae); first declension^[1][2] Niermeyer records the spellings oblita, oblicta, oblia and obliga.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin offerō (“to offer, present”): the feminine of its perfect participle ⟨oblātus⟩, used as a noun with hostia (“host, offering”) understood.^[1][3][4] The neuter plural of the participle had already been used for “things offered”, by Livy, Seneca and Tacitus of opportunities, and in Christian writers of offerings to God.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first examples of the feminine noun are in the Anonymus Valesianus and in the acts of the Council of Vaison in 529; the Council of Arles in 554 speaks of the oblations that are offered on the holy altar.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was the bread offered by the faithful for the Eucharist: the thin loaves used as hosts, and a host not yet consecrated.^[2][5][1] Du Cange cites a canon of Orléans requiring the oblatae to follow the custom of the church of Arles, and the Roman Ordo describing subdeacons who hand them to the archdeacon.^[5]

From the wafer it came to mean a thin cake, a dues payment made in such cakes, and a meal.^[2]

Timeline

• 529 AD – The Council of Vaison.^[4]
• 554 AD – The Council of Arles, of the offerings placed on the altar.^[4]
• 720–730 – The formulary of Marculf.^[3]
• Medieval Latin – A thin cake, a render of cakes, a meal.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) An offering; the bread offered by the faithful for the Eucharist, a host.^[1][2][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) An unconsecrated host.^[2][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) A thin cake, wafer.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) A render of cakes owed to a lord.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) A meal.^[2]

Related words

• oblātiō
• English oblate
• English oblation

References

1. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre