oscillatio

Forms

ōscillātiō f (genitive ōscillātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin oscillō (“to ride in a swing”) + -tiō.^[2][3][1] The OLD derives the verb from oscillum (“a swing”), whose origin it calls unknown unless it developed from ⟨oscillum⟩ “a small face”, a mask left to swing in the breeze;^[2] that word is formed from ōs¹ (“mouth”).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Petronius, who wrote before 66 AD,^[5] uses it figuratively of an obscene game, in which an old man placed between a hireling and his mistress played as if on a swing.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Its other uses concern a rite: Hyginus' Fabulae tell how the Athenians founded a festival of swinging for Erigone because of a plague, and Festus mentions it in connection with the custom.^[3][6][7] English oscillation (1650s), from French and directly from Latin, gave it the sense of a swinging back and forth;^[4] Wiktionary lists learned descendants such as French oscillation and Italian oscillazione.^[1]

Timeline

• before 66 AD – Petronius uses it of an obscene game likened to swinging.^[3][5]
• 2nd half of the 2nd century AD – Festus mentions it in connection with the swinging rite.^[3][7][5]
• 1650s – English borrows it as oscillation, partly through French.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The action of swinging, especially in a rite: diēs fēstus ōscillātiōnis, the swinging festival held at Athens for Erigone (Hyginus).^[2][6][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn