salutatio

Forms

salūtātiō f (genitive salūtātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin salūtō (“to greet”) + -tiō.^[2][3][1] The verb is made from salūs (“health, safety; greeting”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation is Cicero's speech against Piso, which asks who would think him worthy even of a common greeting.^[2][3] Köbler dates it only from Tacitus.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is a greeting, a word Lewis & Short call rare but good prose:^[3] Livy has salūtātiōnem facere, "to greet", and Tacitus salūtātiōnem reddere, "to return a greeting".^[3][5] In particular it is the formal morning call a client paid on his patron, and later on the emperor;^[2] Cicero mentions the crowd of the morning call, Seneca the morning calls, and Gellius people waiting for the emperor's reception.^[2][5] Vitruvius uses it of the devotions passers-by make before temples.^[3] It is rarely a written greeting, as in Cicero's play on salūs and in the Vulgate.^[3] In medieval British sources it is also the greeting formula of a letter.^[6] English borrowed it in the late 14th century as salutation.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a greeting and of the morning call.^[2][3]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of devotions before temples.^[3]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a greeting.^[3][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of returning a greeting.^[3][4]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius of the emperor's reception.^[5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate of a written greeting.^[3]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as salutation.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A greeting, salutation.^[2][3][1][8]
2. A formal morning call paid by a client on his patron, or on the emperor.^[2][5][1]
3. An act of devotion before a temple.^[3]
4. A written greeting.^[3]
5. (Medieval Latin) The greeting formula of a letter.^[6]

Related words

• salūtābundus
• salūtātor
• salūtātōrium
• salūtātōrius
• salūtātrix
• salūtigerulus
• salūtō
• salūs
• English salutation

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson