Etymologically
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requies

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈrɛ.kʷi.eːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈrɛː.kʷi.es][1]

Forms

requiēs f (genitive requiētis or requiēī or requiē); variously declined, third declension, fifth declension[1] The accusative is usually requiem, in Cicero also requiētem.[2] Sallust has a genitive requiē and Livy and Ovid an ablative requiē.[2] Ambrose has a genitive requiēī.[3]

Etymology

It is formed from re- (“again, back”) and quiēs (“rest”).[2][1][4] The TLL takes it as made back from requiēscō (“to rest”), found from Plautus on, on the model of ⟨quiēs⟩; its fifth-declension forms follow nouns in ⟨-iēs⟩.[5] De Vaan also calls its ⟨ē⟩-inflection recent, and derives ⟨quiēs⟩ from Proto-Italic *kʷiē-ti- and Proto-Indo-European *kʷieh₁-ti- (“rest, peace”), cognate with Old Church Slavonic почити (počiti, “to rest”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Cicero as its first author,[4] whose poem on his consulship has “easing cares with rest”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is rest from work or exertion, and with a genitive respite from something, as Cicero's rest from lawsuits and quarrels;[2][3][1] Lucretius says no rest is given to the bodies of the first elements.[2][3][1] In poetry it is what gives rest, as Lucretius' Calliope, “rest of men and delight of gods”, and it is also recreation, as in Horace, and a pause or break, as Virgil's “no delay, no rest”.[2][3]

Church Latin glosses it “rest, repose”.[7] In Medieval Latin it is the tomb of a saint, or an altar under which relics rest.[8] English requiem, about 1300 a Mass for the dead, comes from its accusative.[9]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the restless atoms.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of rest from cares.[2][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil: “no delay, no rest”.[2][4]
  • c. 1300 – English requiem, from its accusative.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Rest, repose; respite (from).[2][3][1][7]
  2. What gives rest; recreation.[2]
  3. A pause, break.[2][1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A saint's tomb; an altar with relics.[8]

Word family

  • irrequies

Usage notes

Döderlein calls quiēs rest in itself, and requiēs rest after activity and effort.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper