Etymologically
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postulatum

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Forms

postulātum n (genitive postulātī); second declension[1]

Etymology

Used as a noun, it is the neuter participle from Latin postulō (“to ask for, demand”).[2][1] De Vaan derives postulō from poscō (“to ask, demand”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *pork-ske/o- and Proto-Indo-European *prḱ-sk-e/o- (“to ask”).[3] The step between them is debated: Walde and Hofmann and Meiser start from an unattested participle *posk-to-, Leumann and Sihler from a noun *posculum or *postulum “query”.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero, who complains in the Verrines that a governor ignored a man's whole petition and case.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

It is what someone demands or asks for, a demand, petition or request: Cicero writes of complaints and demands brought before the senate.[2] Livy uses it often of the demands made in negotiations, of the Samnites and of a consul whose chief demand was that a king withdraw his garrisons.[5]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a petition ignored.[2][4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of demands in negotiations.[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A demand, claim.[2][1]
  2. A petition, request.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften