occupatio

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ɔk.kʊˈpaː.ti.oː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ok.kuˈpat.t͡si.o]^[1]

Forms

occupātiō f (genitive occupātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from occupō “to seize, occupy” with the suffix -tiō.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from the Rhetorica ad Herennium, of business, and Cicero, of seizing possession.^[2] Köbler dates the Rhetorica 86/82 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant taking possession, seizing, occupying, as Cicero's occupātiō forī, which Lewis and Short call very rare in this sense.^[2][5][6] In Cicero it meant close attention to a subject, and in the Rhetorica ad Herennium business, employment, an occupation.^[2] In rhetoric ante occupātiō meant forestalling an objection.^[6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant occupation.^[7] British Medieval Latin used it for the seizure of land or goods and for usurpation.^[8] It survives in Italian occupazione and French occupation, and Old French gave English occupation in the early 14th century, “fact of holding”, and by the mid-14th century “employment”.^[1][3]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it of business.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of seizing possession.^[2][4]
• early 14th century – English occupation is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Seizing, occupation.^[2]
2. Close attention; business, employment.^[2]
3. (rhetoric) ante occupātiō, forestalling an objection.^[6]

Word family

• anteoccupātiō

Related words

• occupō
• English occupation

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ 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