obsecratio

Forms

obsecrātiō f (genitive obsecrātiōnis); third declension^[1] The spelling opsecrātiō is also found.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin obsecrō (“to beseech, implore”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3] The verb is formed from ob- and sacrō (“to consecrate”),^[1] and de Vaan lists it among the derivatives of sacer (“sacred”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *sakro- and Proto-Indo-European *sh2k-ro- (“sacred”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[5] whose De inventione lists among the commonplaces of an appeal for pity one made through entreaty, per obsecrātiōnem.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means a beseeching or imploring, an entreaty or supplication:^[2][6] Cicero also uses it in his speeches and letters, and Quintilian speaks of entreating the judges by all they hold dearest.^[2] The TLL finds it in Cicero, Livy and Quintilian, but not in the poets.^[3] In religion it was a public act of prayer to the gods: Livy describes a supplication made by the people with the duumvirs leading the words, and Suetonius one held after a bird of ill omen was seen on the Capitol.^[2]

The Vulgate uses it for prayer,^[6] and Church Latin kept the senses prayer, entreaty and public prayer.^[7] British medieval writers, from Alcuin on, use it for entreaty and prayer, and also for a part of the Mass.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of entreaty as a commonplace of oratory.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a public supplication of the gods.^[2][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of a supplication after a bad omen.^[2][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for prayer to God.^[6][5]
• 794 – Alcuin uses it in a letter for humble entreaty.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A beseeching or imploring, entreaty, supplication.^[2][6]
2. (religion) A public act of prayer to the gods.^[2]
3. An asseveration, protestation.^[1]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Prayer, public prayer.^[7][8]
5. (Medieval Latin) A part of the Mass.^[8]

Related words

• obsecrō
• sacer
• cōnsecrātiō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press