spons

Forms

spōns f sg (genitive spontis); third declension^[1] Only the genitive spontis and the ablative sponte are attested;^[2] the OLD notes that the genitive is rare and that an accusative has been conjectured in Varro.^[3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][1] It has been derived from Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁- (“to spin”), but de Vaan finds that this rests only on the similar shape and is hard to defend in meaning.^[2] Köbler connects it with Proto-Indo-European *spend- (“to pull, stretch”), Pokorny's root.^[4] The OLD and Georges compare Old High German spanst (“stimulus, attraction”).^[3][5] Older explanations linked it with spondeō (“to promise, pledge”), which Wiktionary finds more reasonable in meaning.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Plautus as the first author.^[2] In the Trinummus a character says scio te sponte non tuapte errasse, “I know you did not go wrong of your own will”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word meant will or volition, and Varro explains despondere (to betroth) from it: the daughter had gone out of the father's will.^[3][6] In use it is almost always the ablative sponte: with a possessive (sponte meā, suā) “of one's own accord”, also without one, as in Virgil's Italiam non sponte sequor, “not of my own will do I seek Italy”.^[3] With a genitive it meant “by the will of” someone else (Lucan has sponte deum, Tacitus sponte Antonii).^[3][5] It also meant “deliberately”, “unaided, by oneself” (Cicero speaks of a fire that goes out of itself), and “in itself, inherently”.^[3] The genitive phrase suae spontis meant “one's own master”: Celsus calls a sound man one who is healthy and his own master.^[3]

Köbler records the word in the early medieval law codes,^[4] and Stelten glosses it as free will in Ecclesiastical Latin.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses sponte for “of one's own will” and “by oneself”.^[3][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it for “will” and explains the verb despondere from it.^[3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses suā sponte of a fire that goes out by itself.^[3][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses sponte without a possessive.^[3][4]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses the genitive suae spontis for “one's own master”.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Will, volition.^[3][2]
2. (ablative, with a possessive or alone) sponte meā, suā: of one's own accord, voluntarily.^[3][8]
3. sponte with a genitive: by the will of (someone other than the doer); sponte nātūrae: naturally, by nature.^[3][5]
4. sponte: deliberately, on purpose.^[3]
5. sponte suā: by one's own agency, unaided; of things, of itself, spontaneously.^[3]
6. sponte suā: in itself, inherently; for its own sake.^[3]
7. suae spontis: one's own master, acting by one's own will.^[3]

Word family

• spontālis
• spontāneus

Usage notes

The ablative is treated as an adverb in its own entry, sponte.^[8] Varro's explanation of despondere from spons is an ancient etymology.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press