relaxatio

Forms

relaxātiō f (genitive relaxātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin relaxō (“to loosen, relax”) + -tiō.^[2][3][1] De Vaan lists relaxō among the derivatives of laxus (“spacious, wide, loose”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *(s)lakso- and Proto-Indo-European *slǵ-so- (“weak, faint”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it, in a figurative sense: in the De oratore the fruit of leisure is not straining the mind but its relaxatio, its unbending.^[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

The TLL counts only three examples in Cicero and one in Scribonius Largus; from the middle of the 4th century it returns, only in prose, above all in Christian and medical writers.^[3] Besides the relaxing of the mind it meant the easing of a condition such as pain,^[2][5] and in its literal sense the loosening of something tight, as of the skin in Scribonius Largus' remedy for headache.^[2] Later writers used it of the loosening of a bird's feathers (Augustine) and of the lessening of a quality (Boethius).^[3]

In Church Latin it meant ease and relief.^[6] Medieval documents used it for the remission of a payment or discharge, for a pardon, and for the release of a prisoner.^[7] English borrowed it in the late 14th century for a hernia.^[8] From the mid-15th century the English word also meant the remission of a burden or penalty.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the unbending of the mind and of the easing of pain.^[2][5][9]
• c. 47 AD – Scribonius Largus uses it of the loosening of the skin.^[2][9]
• 354–430 – Augustine uses it of the loosened feathers of a hen.^[3][9]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as relaxation.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A loosening, slackening.^[2][3]
2. (figurative) relaxation, unbending of the mind.^[2][5]
3. An easing, alleviation (of pain or another condition).^[2][5]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Ease, relief.^[6]
5. (Medieval Latin) remission of a payment, discharge.^[7]
6. (Medieval Latin) A pardon.^[7]
7. (Medieval Latin) The release of a prisoner.^[7]

Related words

• laxus
• laxō
• English relaxation

References

1. ^ a b 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 c d e f 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 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. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de