sequela

Forms

sequēla f (genitive sequēlae); first declension^[1] The best manuscripts spell it sequella, which also appears in an inscription.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin sequor + -ēla, from sequor (“to follow”).^[1][4][2] The verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is post-Augustan.^[5] Frontinus, in the Strategemata, uses it for the followers of an army, ordering the sutlers, grooms and “every kind of sequelae” to raise a shout.^[5][2][6]

Semantic evolution

Literally it was whatever follows something: in the Digest the foal following a mare is its sequela.^[5][2] Figuratively it meant a result or consequence: Gellius speaks of evils that arise not by nature but as necessary consequences, and Lactantius calls death the sequela of diseases.^[5][2]

In medieval Latin it became a legal and feudal word: the lord's right to pursue a serf, the duty to attend court, the pursuit of the hue and cry, a retinue or household, a body of witnesses, and everything that went with a right.^[7] Charters also use it of the young animals that follow their mother,^[8] and a gloss in Papias explains it as custom or example.^[8] English took it as sequel in the mid-15th century, from Old French and directly from Late Latin,^[9] and again in 1793 as the medical term sequela, a condition that results from an earlier disease.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 100 AD – Frontinus uses it for the camp followers of an army.^[5][6]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it for a necessary consequence.^[5][6]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius calls death the sequela of diseases.^[5][6]
• AD 533 – The Digest uses it for a foal following a mare.^[5][6]
• 1303 – A charter of Philip the Fair grants pasture for twelve mares “and their sequela”.^[8]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as sequel.^[9]
• 1793 – English adopts sequela as a term of pathology.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. That which follows; a follower, especially a camp follower.^[5][2][3]
2. The young that follow an animal, such as a foal with its mare.^[5][8]
3. A result, consequence.^[5][2]
4. (Medieval Latin) A retinue, suite, household.^[7][8]
5. (Medieval Latin, law) The right to pursue a serf; the obligation of suit of court; the hue and cry; a body of witnesses.^[7]

Related words

• English sequel
• English sequela

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
9. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com