Etymologically
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pio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpi.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpiː.o][1]

Forms

piō (present infinitive piāre, perfect active piāvī, supine piātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pius (“dutiful, pious”) + -ō.[2][3][1] De Vaan traces pius to Proto-Italic *pwījo- and Proto-Indo-European *puH-io- (“purifying”), though the exact sound changes are disputed.[4] Umbrian has a matching verb, Umbrian pihatu (“to reconcile”), which de Vaan explains as a denominative Proto-Italic *piā- to the same adjective.[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, in the Asinaria, in a pun: “where am I to propitiate Piety?”[2][5][4]

Semantic evolution

It is to propitiate a god, or anything thought to hold a supernatural power, by sacrifice: Virgil's neighbouring peoples will appease the bones of the dead, and Propertius honours altars with incense.[2][5] In Cicero's laws it is to avert lightning and portents by expiation.[2] Plautus also uses it of having a madman purified, and Virgil of expiating a crime by the death of the wretched.[2] In Nonius it is explained by expiō and cōnsecrō, and once oddly as defiling.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of propitiating Piety and of purifying a madman.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of expiating lightning in his laws.[2][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of appeasing the dead and of expiating a crime.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To propitiate, appease a god or the dead by sacrifice; to honour with religious rites.[2][5][1]
  2. To avert by expiation; to perform expiatory rites.[2]
  3. To cleanse by expiation, purify.[2][1]
  4. To expiate an offence.[2][1]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de