oboediens

Forms

oboediēns (genitive oboedientis; comparative oboedientior, superlative oboedientissimus); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1][2] Also spelled obēdiēns.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin oboediō (“to obey”), its present participle used as an adjective.^[1][2][3] De Vaan explains oboediō together with audiō (“to hear”) from an Italic compound of Proto-Indo-European *h₂eu-is (“clearly”) and Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁-ie/o- (“to render”), “to make manifest”;^[4] cognate with Ancient Greek ἀΐω (aḯō, “to perceive, hear”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has dictō oboediēns, “obedient to the word”, of a pupil who had not yet stopped obeying his teacher.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

It is obedient or submissive to persons and commands.^[1] Cicero says that the god is subject or obedient to no nature, and Köbler dates it from him.^[2][3] Livy often has it of soldiers and peoples: no one was more obedient to the orders of the living than the speaker, a soldier most obedient to commands, the plebs dictō audiēns atque oboediēns, and a people kept obedient for new plans.^[2][1] Sallust says that everything else was favourable and obedient.^[2] Seneca uses it of impulses that should be tempered and obedient.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, dictō oboediēns.^[1][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of the god obedient to no nature.^[2][3]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of obedient soldiers.^[2][3]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of obedient impulses.^[1][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Obedient, submissive, compliant;^[1][2] dictō oboediēns, obedient to a command.^[1][2]
2. Of actions, done under orders, controlled.^[1]

Related words

• oboediō
• oboedientia
• audiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ 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