sollicitatio

Forms

sollicitātiō f (genitive sollicitātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sollicitō (“to disturb, stir up, incite”) + -tiō.^[2][1] That verb comes from sollicitus (“restless, anxious”), a compound of sollus (“entire”) and citus (“stirred”), the participle of cieō (“to set in motion”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Terence,^[4][2] in the Andria, where the worry about a marriage (nūptiārum sollicitātiō) is named among a character's cares, beside love and pity.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The sense of worry or vexation is Terence's;^[2][6] in Classical prose the word otherwise meant incitement, especially the tampering with people to make them disloyal or join a crime.^[2][5] Cicero uses it of the incitement of the Allobroges in the third speech against Catiline and of slaves won over by threats and promises.^[2][5] In the elder Seneca's declamations it is the seduction of a married woman, who could not be overcome by so many solicitations.^[2][5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant solicitation and seduction,^[7] and medieval British writers used it for incitement and persuasion, from a papal letter that Bede quotes to the letters of Thomas Becket.^[8] English took it over as solicitation in the late 15th century.^[9]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it for anxiety about a marriage.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for incitement to disloyalty and crime.^[2][5][4]
• 625 – A papal letter quoted by Bede speaks of the solicitation of the enemy.^[8]
• 1169 – Thomas Becket writes of the solicitations that prolonged his exile.^[8]
• late 15th century – English borrows it as solicitation.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Vexation, worry.^[2][5]
2. Incitement to disloyalty or crime; instigation.^[2][5][6]
3. (especially) The seduction of a married woman;^[2][5] (plural) allurements.^[2][5]
4. (Medieval Latin) Persuasion, solicitation.^[8][7]

Related words

• sollicitō
• sollicitus
• English solicitation

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d 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
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com