Etymologically
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postulatio

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Forms

postulātiō f (genitive postulātiōnis); third declension[1] Some manuscripts of Gregory the Great spell it postolatio.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin postulō (“to ask for, demand”) + -tiō.[3][1][2] De Vaan derives postulō from poscō (“to ask, demand”), which he traces to Proto-Indo-European *prḱ-sk-e/o- (“to ask”); the way postulō was formed from it is debated.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus, where a character calls something a sharp protest.[4][5][3]

Semantic evolution

It is a demand or request, as Cicero's fair and honourable demand, a protest, and the requirements of a thing.[3][6] In law it is an application to a magistrate to redress a wrong, or for leave to prosecute: Cicero writes of the usual forms of such applications.[3] Later it can be an accusation.[3] In Medieval Latin it is a prayer to God and the postulation of a bishop, and Church Latin uses it of a petition by electors to a higher authority.[7][8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a sharp protest.[3][4][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of legal applications.[3][5]
  • Middle Ages – a prayer; the postulation of a bishop.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A demand, request; a protest; a requirement.[3][6][8][1]
  2. (law) An application to a magistrate, for redress or for leave to prosecute.[3]
  3. An accusation.[3]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A prayer.[7]
  5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Postulation, a petition of electors to a higher authority.[8][7]

Word family

  • superpostulatio

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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 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
  7. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson