Etymologically
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optio

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈɔp.ti.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɔp.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

optiō f (genitive optiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from the root of optō “to choose, wish”, *opio-, with the suffix -tiō.[2][1][3] The OLD compares Umbrian opeter (“chosen”) and Oscan ufteis (“of desire, choice”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus, of choice and of an assistant.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

As a feminine it meant the power of choosing, choice, option, as Plautus' optiō haec tua est “the choice is yours” and Cicero's optiō vōbīs datur.[2][5][6] In Quintilian it was the right of a hero to choose his reward, and in Apuleius the act of choosing.[2] As a masculine it meant a junior officer chosen by a centurion or decurion to assist him, as in Varro and Tacitus, and in Plautus any assistant.[2][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant choice, option.[7] English option came about 1600 through French.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of choice and of an assistant.[2][4]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a military assistant.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses optiō vōbīs datur.[6][4]
  • c. 1600 – English option is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (feminine) Choice, option; the right to choose.[2]
  2. (masculine, military) An officer assisting a centurion, an adjutant.[2]
  3. (masculine) An assistant.[2]

Word family

  • optiōnātus
  • suboptiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com