Etymologically
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oboediens

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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]

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