provocativus

Forms

prōvocātīvus (feminine prōvocātīva, neuter prōvocātīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin prōvocō (“to call forth”) + -īvus,^[1][2][3] on the stem of its past participle, ⟨prōvocāt-⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tertullian (c. 160–220) is the first to use it,^[5][6] in the passive sense “called forth”: in his treatise on the soul he says that its growth is to be counted not as a matter of substance but as something brought out (non substantiva, sed provocativa).^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 5th century Caelius Aurelianus uses it actively, “calling forth”, of ointments;^[6][7] Georges renders it there as “laxative”.^[3]

Medieval British Latin used it for what causes or brings something about, with a genitive: a sermon complains of songs among the students that are provocative of lust among the laity.^[8] As a neuter noun it was a medical term for a remedy that induces a condition, as provocativum sudoris, a sudorific.^[8] In Neo-Latin it meant “inciting to”: Leonardo Bruni's life of Aristotle mentions two books of his inciting to virtue.^[9]

English took provocative in the mid-15th century, partly through French, in the sense “eliciting”; its earliest English use was as a noun meaning an aphrodisiac.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it in the sense “called forth”.^[2][5]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it of stimulating ointments.^[6][5]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as provocative.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Called forth, elicited.^[6][2][7]
2. That calls forth or provokes;^[6][7][3] (medicine) stimulating, laxative.^[6][7][3]
3. (Medieval Latin) Causing, bringing about (with a genitive).^[8]
4. (Medieval Latin, medicine, as a neuter noun) A remedy that induces a condition: provocativum sudoris, a sudorific.^[8]
5. (New Latin) Inciting (to something).^[9]

Related words

• English provocative

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
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 d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de