secessio

Forms

sēcessiō f (genitive sēcessiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sēcēdō (“to withdraw”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3] sēcēdō is a compound of sē- (“apart”) and cēdō¹ (“to go”),^[3][4] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *kesd-e/o- (“to go away, avoid”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[5] who has it of the private withdrawals of a prosecutor's supporters, secessiones subscriptorum.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is a withdrawal to a private place for discussion: Caesar's soldiers at Corfinium withdraw in the evening to confer.^[2][6] Its prevailing sense, according to Lewis & Short, is political:^[6] the withdrawal of the plebs from the community to a separate place, the Roman secession.^[2] Varro names the secession to Crustumerium, Sallust says that the ancestors twice seized the Aventine by secession, and Livy tells of several.^[2][6] Cicero tells Caesar that at first he regarded the civil conflict as a secession rather than a war.^[2] It is also used of mutinous troops, and Tacitus has Thrasea's attending to his clients' private business, while others hurried to punish Silanus and Vetus, called a secession.^[2] Livy also uses it of a rift between two parties.^[2] Döderlein groups it with sēditiō as political commotions arising from open differences of principle.^[7] English secession (1530s) first referred to the Roman withdrawals of the plebeians; the sense of withdrawing from a religious or political union is from the 1650s.^[3]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro, of the secession to Crustumerium.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of withdrawals for consultation and of the civil war.^[2][5]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust, of the plebs seizing the Aventine.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of the secessions of the plebs and of troops.^[2][5]
• 1530s – Borrowed into English as secession.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A withdrawal to a private place, for discussion or plotting.^[2][6][1]
2. A political withdrawal, especially of the plebs; a secession;^[2][6][1] a mutiny of troops.^[2]
3. A rift between two parties.^[2]

Related words

• sēcēdō
• cēdō¹
• English secession

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper