Etymologically
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obsecratio

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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]

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