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secessus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word secessus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
70–19 BC, Virgil
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*ḱiesdʰ-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin secedo
Latin secessus

Forms

sēcessus m (genitive sēcessūs); fourth declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sēcēdō (“to withdraw”) + -tus.[2][1] The verb sēcēdō is formed from sē- (“apart”) and cēdō (“to go, withdraw”),[1] which de Vaan, after Lubotsky, traces to Proto-Italic *kesd-e/o- (“to go away, avoid”) and Proto-Indo-European *ḱiesdʰ- (“to drive away; go away”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short note that it is not found before Augustus;[4] Virgil has “there is a place in a deep recess”.[4]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is withdrawal into seclusion, as Ovid's “poems seek the writer's seclusion and leisure”, and especially withdrawal from Rome to the country, as Seneca's summer retreat.[2] Tacitus calls Tiberius at Rhodes an exile under the name of retirement.[4] By metonymy it is a secluded place or retreat, as in Seneca and Valerius Maximus.[2] Pliny the Elder uses it of the departure of birds and Gellius of the mind's withdrawal from the body.[4] Jerome uses it of a privy,[4] and in Medieval Latin it means a privy and also death.[5]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of a deep recess.[4][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of the seclusion poets need.[2][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of a summer retreat.[2][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of Tiberius' retirement at Rhodes.[4][6]
  • c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome of a privy.[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Withdrawal, departure; seclusion, retirement, especially to the country.[2][4][7][1]
  2. A secluded place, retreat, recess.[2][4][7][1]
  3. (Late Latin) A privy.[4][5][1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Death.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Secessus.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/secessus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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