sequester

Forms

sequester m (genitive sequestris or sequestrī, feminine sequestra); variously declined, third declension, second declension^[1] The OLD treats it as an adjective, sequester, -tra, -trum, also sequester, -tris, -tre.^[2]

Etymology

It is a derivative of secus (“otherwise, beside”) with the contrastive suffix ⟨-ter⟩, from an older ⟨*sequos⟩.^[2][1] Wiktionary compares the same suffix in magister and minister.^[1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of that adverb, which he traces to Proto-Italic *sekwos (“separate”) and, following Klingenschmitt, to Proto-Indo-European *se-ḱuo- (“by oneself, separate”), comparing Old Irish sech (“past; without”); the older explanation took the adverb as an old participle "following", from the root of sequor.^[3] Köbler connects it with that verb too.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan finds it first in Plautus.^[3] In the Rudens someone refuses to let the other take a thing away unless he names a depositary or an arbiter, and in the Mercator it is said that a woman was given to someone in trust.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is first a term of law: a third party to whom disputed property was entrusted until the dispute was settled, a depositary, as in Plautus, Cato, Petronius and the jurists.^[2][5] The neuter is used in sequestrō pōnere or dare, to place in trust, which Gellius explains.^[2] In elections it was the agent with whom a promised bribe was deposited: Cicero names such agents beside the go-betweens who corrupt juries, and accuses Plancius of having been a seller and agent of bribes for his tribe.^[2] From there it came to mean an intermediary in general: Virgil has Trojans and Latins wandering the hills together under a peace that kept them apart, and Seneca calls Menenius Agrippa a mediator between patricians and plebs.^[2] Apuleius uses it of an old woman who arranged adulteries.^[2] The older form sequester, -trī is ante- and post-classical and poetic.^[5] Stelten gives "trustee" for Church Latin.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a depositary and of something given in trust.^[2][3]
• 234–149 BC – Cato in a speech.^[2]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of agents in bribery.^[2][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of a peace that keeps enemies apart.^[2][4]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of Menenius Agrippa as mediator.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) A depositary, a third party holding disputed property until a decision.^[2][5][1][6]
2. (in bribery) An agent with whom a promised bribe is deposited.^[2][5][1]
3. An intermediary, mediator, go-between.^[2][1]
4. (neuter) sequestrō pōnere, sequestrō dare: to place (disputed property) in trust.^[2]

Adjective

1. Acting as intermediary, mediating (as Virgil's pāx sequestra).^[2]

Word family

• sequestrārius
• sequestrō

Related words

• sequestra
• sequestrum
• secus
• English sequester

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson