obsessio

Forms

obsessiō f (genitive obsessiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin obsideō (“to besiege”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3] obsideō is a compound of ob- and sedeō (“to sit”),^[1] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *sed-ē- (“to be seated”) and Proto-Indo-European *sed-eh₁- (“to be seated”).^[4] Cognate with Old Irish saidid (“to sit”) and Umbrian sersitu (“to sit”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[5] who speaks of the blockade of the temples, obsessio templorum.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It is the act of besieging, a siege, investment or blockade;^[2] Lewis & Short call it classical.^[6] Cicero also has the blocking of a military road, Caesar the giving up of a blockade, and Suetonius the siege of a camp.^[6] In Christian Latin it was used of possession by a demon: Venantius Fortunatus, in his life of Germanus, writes that a woman had resisted her own salvation through obsession.^[7] English obsession (1510s) first meant the action of besieging; the sense “hostile action of an evil spirit” dates from about 1600.^[3]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of the blockade of the temples.^[6][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar, of giving up a blockade.^[6][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius, of the siege of a camp.^[6][5]
• 536–c. 610 AD – Venantius Fortunatus, of possession by a demon.^[7][5]
• 1510s – Borrowed into English as obsession.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A siege, investment, blockade.^[2][6][1]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Obsession by a demon.^[7][1]

Related words

• obsideō
• obsidiō
• obsessor
• English obsession

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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
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 e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften