Etymologically
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otiosus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [oː.tiˈoː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ot.t͡siˈɔː.s̬us][1]

Forms

ōtiōsus (feminine ōtiōsa, neuter ōtiōsum, superlative ōtiōsissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ōtium (“leisure”) + -ōsus.[2][1][3][4] De Vaan finds no etymology for ⟨ōtium⟩.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Ennius as its first author, in a tragedy: ōtiōsō in ōtiō animus nescit quid velit, “in idle leisure the mind does not know what it wants”.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

It is free from business or public life, with nothing to do: Plautus asks why a man at leisure seeks news.[2] It is unhurried (Terence), and in Cicero leisured, of men of talent who spend whole lives in study.[2] It is inactive by choice, as Cicero's men who will sit idle and accept Antony's insulting favour, peaceable, undisturbed, calm (Terence: ōtiōsus estō, “don't worry”), and of time free, as Caesar's year free from war.[2] Of things it is useless or superfluous, as Seneca's idle talk.[2] Lewis and Short set it against negōtiōsus.[7]

Church Latin glosses it “idle, at leisure, empty, useless”.[8] Medieval Latin uses it for “vain, futile”.[9] English otiose (1794) comes from it.[4]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of idle leisure.[2][6]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a man at leisure.[2][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of being calm.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of leisured study and of peaceable men.[2][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of useless talk.[2][6]
  • 1794 – English otiose.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. At leisure, unoccupied; leisured.[2][1][8]
  2. Inactive, idle.[2][1][8]
  3. Useless, superfluous, otiose.[2][8][9]
  4. Peaceable, quiet; undisturbed, calm.[2][1]
  5. (of time, land, office) Free, vacant.[2]

Word family

  • inotiosus
  • ōtiōsitās
  • ōtium
  • negōtiōsus
  • English otiose

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill