officiosus

Forms

officiōsus (feminine officiōsa, neuter officiōsum, comparative officiōsior, superlative officiōsissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin officium (“service, duty”) + -ōsus.^[2][3][1] De Vaan derives officium from Proto-Italic *opi-fak-io-, from ops (“power, resources”) and the root of faciō (“to do”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from the comic poet Afranius, of the second half of the 2nd century BC.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It describes someone always ready to perform the services owed to a friend or a superior: dutiful, attentive, obliging.^[2][6] Cicero applies it to the labours of an advocate and to grief that duty demands.^[2] In a bad sense it means officious or importunate, as of a caller whom a married woman should rather rebuff in Seneca the Elder.^[2]

Timeline

• 2nd century BC – Afranius uses it.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of an advocate's dutiful labours.^[2][5]
• 55 BC–40 AD – Seneca the Elder of an officious caller.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Dutiful, attentive, obliging, ready to serve.^[2][6][1]
2. Of actions, done from a sense of duty.^[2]
3. Officious, importunate.^[2][1]

Word family

• inofficiōsus
• officiositas

Usage notes

Gellius, following Nigidius, asks why ingeniōsus and officiōsus, formed alike from ingenium and officium, are always said in praise and never in blame.^[3]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press