Etymologically
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requiesco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛ.kʷiˈeːs.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [re.kʷiˈɛs.ko][1]

Forms

requiēscō (present infinitive requiēscere, perfect active requiēvī, supine requiētum); third conjugation[1] Contracted forms are common: requiēsse in Cicero and Livy, requiērunt in Virgil and Statius,[2] requiērant and requiēsset in Catullus.[3] Christian inscriptions abbreviate it in many ways.[4]

Etymology

It is formed from re- (“again, back”) and quiēscō (“to rest”).[2][4][1] De Vaan explains ⟨quiēscō⟩ as a new present built beside the perfect ⟨quiēvī⟩, which continues the root aorist Proto-Indo-European *kʷi(e)h₁- (“to rest”); the noun quiēs (“rest”) is from Proto-Italic *kʷjē-ti- and Proto-Indo-European *kʷieh₁-ti- (“rest, peace”), cognate with Old Church Slavonic почити (počiti, “to rest”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius' Annals have “here they lie in wait and watch, some take their rest”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to take rest or repose, and to lie at rest in death, as on epitaphs, hīc requiēscit.[2][3] It is to stop work, take a holiday or be idle, as Cicero's man at rest or in action; of activities and conditions it is to come to an end or die down, and of things to be left unused, as Virgil's fields resting under a change of crop.[2] It is to get respite from worry and relax.[2][1] Of things it is to be supported by or rest upon, as Lucretius' weights resting on the earth.[2][1]

Used transitively it is to cause to rest or stay, as Propertius' Jupiter, who held back the Bears for Alcmena, and to let a liquid stand, as Vitruvius' boiled water left to settle.[2][1] Church Latin glosses it “be at rest”.[6]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of men taking rest.[2][7]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of weights resting on the earth.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of rest from work.[2][7]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of Jupiter staying the stars.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To rest, repose; to lie at rest in death.[2][3][1][6]
  2. To stop work, be idle; to cease, die down;[2] (of land) to lie fallow.[2]
  3. To get relief, relax; to find comfort.[2][1]
  4. To rest (upon), be supported (by).[2][1]
  5. (transitive) To cause to rest, stay; to let stand.[2][1]

Word family

  • irrequiētus
  • requiētiō
  • requiētōrium
  • requiētus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de