requisita
Forms
requīsīta n pl (genitive requīsītōrum); second declension, plural only[1][2]
Etymology
It is from Latin requīrō (“to search for; to need”): the neuter plural of its perfect participle ⟨requīsītus⟩, used as a noun.[1][2] The verb is a compound of quaerō (“to seek”),[3] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *kwai-s-e/o-.[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
The oldest instance Georges gives is in a fragment of Sallust's Histories, in the phrase ad requisita naturae, of going away to relieve the needs of nature.[1]
Semantic evolution
The same phrase recurs in the Historia Augusta and in Ammianus Marcellinus.[1] Quintilian uses the word of the expressions a speaker needs, which should be at hand when required.[1][2] German Requisite “stage properties” goes back to it,[2] while English requisite comes from the participle ⟨requīsītus⟩.[4]
Timeline
- 86–34 BC – Sallust has ad requisita naturae.[1][2]
- c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of needed expressions.[1][2]
- c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses ad requisita naturae.[1][2]
Meanings
Noun
- Things required or needed; in rhetoric, the expressions a speaker needs.[1][2]
- requisita naturae: the needs of the body; going to relieve oneself.[1][2]
Related words
- English requisite
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com