Etymologically
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recitatio

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Pronunciation

  • Ecclesiastical: [re.t͡ʃiˈtat.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

recitātiō f (genitive recitātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin recitō (“to read aloud”) + -tiō.[2][1][3] recitō is a compound of re- and citō (“to summon, call”), the frequentative that replaced cieō (“to set in motion”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from the Rhetorica ad Herennium and Cicero on, never in verse;[3] Cicero uses it of the reading out of documents and letters in court.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is first a technical word for reading documents aloud in legal proceedings: the Rhetorica ad Herennium joins the exposition and the reading of a law, and Cicero speaks of reading out letters and of someone regretting his reading.[2][5] Suetonius uses it of the reading of documents too.[5] After Augustus it is the public reading of literary works: Tacitus speaks of the recitation of tragedies, and Pliny the Younger, Suetonius and Apuleius use it of such readings.[2][5] Stelten gives "recitation" for Church Latin.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of reading documents in court.[2][5][7]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of the recitation of tragedies.[2]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of readings.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A reading aloud (of documents in court).[2][5][1]
  2. A recitation, a public reading of literary works.[2][5][6][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. ^ 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 d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de