obsequiosus

Forms

obsequiōsus (feminine obsequiōsa, neuter obsequiōsum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] It is also spelled opsequiōsus.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin obsequium + -ōsus, an adjective “full of compliance”.^[2][1] The TLL compares imperiōsus from imperium.^[3] Obsequium “compliance” is from obsequor (“to yield, comply”),^[1][4] a compound of sequor (“to follow”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *sekʷ-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ-e/o- (“to follow, accompany”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its only Classical instance is in Plautus' Captivi, where a speaker says that the other was always as obliging to him as a slave would be (obsequiosus mihi semper fuisti).^[3][6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

L&S counts it among the ante-classical words, citing only Plautus.^[7] Later Latin has the comparative adverb obsequiōsius in Verecundus, of servants obeying the will of their master.^[3]

In British Medieval Latin it meant obedient and compliant, said of a servant or messenger, of the will and of deeds: Osbern of Gloucester glosses it as “full of compliance”, and Thomas Bekynton writes in 1439 of a faithful and very obliging messenger.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the Captivi.^[3][8]
• before 552 AD – Verecundus uses the comparative adverb obsequiōsius.^[3][8]
• 1439 – Thomas Bekynton calls a messenger obsequiosus.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Compliant, deferential, obliging.^[2][7][3]
2. (Medieval Latin) Obedient, ready to serve, of a person or of the will or deeds.^[9]

Related words

• obsequium
• obsequor
• English obsequious

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ a b c 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