obtentus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ɔpˈtɛn.tʊs], [ɔpˈtɛn.tuːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [obˈtɛn.tus], [obˈtɛn.tus]^[1]

Forms

obtentus m (genitive obtentūs); fourth declension^[1] Also spelled optentus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin obtendō (“to spread before”) + -tus, from ob- and tendō “to stretch”.^[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨tendō⟩ to Proto-Indo-European *ten-d(ʰ)- (“to stretch”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is Sallust, of a cloak for actions, and Köbler's earliest source is Caesar.^[2][5] Köbler dates Sallust 86–34 BC and Caesar c. 50 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a spreading out or over, as a veil or covering, as in Virgil, and figuratively a cloak, pretext, disguise for actions, as in Sallust and Tacitus, and Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan.^[2][3][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means excuse, pleading.^[7] Medieval Latin kept sub obtentū “under cover of, on the pretext of”.^[8]

Timeline

• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of a pretext.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a covering.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A spreading over, a covering.^[2][3]
2. A pretext, cloak, disguise.^[2][7]

Related words

• obtendō
• tendō
• ostentus

Usage notes

A different obtentus, from obtineō, “assertion”, is used by Chalcidius, and Medieval Latin obtentū meant “through the intercession of”.^[6][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill