obses

Forms

obses m or f (genitive obsidis); third declension^[1] The old spelling opses appears in the first epitaph of the Scipios.^[2][3] Caesar and Livy have the genitive plural obsidium.^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from ob- (“before, against”) and the root of sedeō (“to sit”), as ⟨*ob-sed-s⟩; the TLL takes it from obsideō (“to sit by, occupy”), comparing praeses from praesideō.^[2][4][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of the simple verb, which he traces to Proto-Italic *sed-ē- (“to be seated”) and Proto-Indo-European *sed-eh₁-, cognate with Ancient Greek ἕζομαι (hézomai, “to sit down”), Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (sitan, “to sit”) and Old Church Slavonic сѣдѣти (sěděti, “to sit”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The epitaph of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus says that he subdued all Lucania and led away hostages: subigit omne Loucanam opsidesque abdoucit.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

An obses is a hostage, a person handed over as a pledge that a treaty will be kept.^[2][1] By extension it is any surety or guarantee, of persons (Cicero says the republic embraces a man as a hostage of his consulship) and of abstract things (Cicero: the Roman people hold many pledges from us).^[2] It is masculine, rarely feminine.^[4][2]

Church Latin glosses it “hostage”;^[6] in medieval Latin it is also a security or bail, a guarantor, and a hostage given under a contract.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a person or thing as a pledge.^[2][8]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar has the genitive plural obsidium.^[3][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hostage.^[2][1][6]
2. A surety, pledge, guarantee.^[2][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) A security, bail; a hostage under a contract.^[7]

Word family

• obsidium

Related words

• obsideō
• sedeō
• obsidiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de