obsonium

Forms

obsōnium n (genitive obsōniī or obsōnī); second declension^[1] It is also spelled opsōnium.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ὀψώνιον (opsṓnion),^[2][3][1][4] which Wiktionary relates to ὀψωνέω (opsōnéō, “to buy provisions”), from ὄψον (ópson, “cooked food, relish”) and ὠνέομαι (ōnéomai, “to buy”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first quotation is in Naevius, in whom someone coming from the shopping was pricked in the hand with a stylus.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the buying of food, catering, and the provisions for a meal: Plautus has wine, finery and sumptuous provisions, and a rich meal bought in.^[2][3] Lewis & Short define it as what is eaten with bread, especially fish.^[3] In the plural it is a maintenance allowance: Pliny the Younger writes of athletes asking for allowances for a contest.^[2] Church Latin glosses it relish, sweetmeats.^[5] Niermeyer notes that in medieval Latin its sense was altered by a supposed link with ⟨sunnis⟩, and gives the senses banquet, hospitality and board.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius of shopping for food.^[2][7]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of sumptuous provisions.^[2][3][7]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of cutting up food.^[3][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The buying of food, catering.^[2]
2. Provisions for a meal, food eaten with bread, especially fish; victuals.^[2][3][1]
3. (plural) A maintenance allowance, pension.^[2]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Relish, sweetmeats.^[5]
5. (Medieval Latin) A banquet; hospitality, board.^[6]

References

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