occupatus

Forms

occupātus (feminine occupāta, neuter occupātum, comparative occupātior, superlative occupātissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is the perfect participle of occupō (“to seize, occupy”), used as an adjective.^[1][2] The verb is formed from ob- and the stem of capiō (“to take”),^[1] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *kapi- and Proto-Indo-European *kh₂p-i- (“to seize”), perhaps a non-Indo-European ⟨*kap-⟩, cognate with Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐍆𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hafjan, “to lift”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Plautus as its first author.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the senses of the verb it means seized or occupied, and especially busy, occupied or engaged.^[1][2] Church Latin glosses it “occupied, busy, engaged”.^[5] A late fourth-declension noun occupātus means “employment, occupation” (Claudianus Mamertus in Sidonius).^[2][4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^[4]
• c. 431–486 AD – The noun occupātus in Sidonius' letters.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Busy, occupied, engaged.^[1][5]
2. Seized, taken possession of.^[1][2]

Related words

• occupō
• occupātiō
• capiō
• ōtiōsus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson