Etymologically
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subsidium

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sʊpˈsɪ.di.ũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [subˈsiː.di.um][1]

Forms

subsidium n (genitive subsidiī or subsidī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is formed from sub- (“under, behind”), sedeō (“to sit”) and -ium;[2][1][3] Lewis & Short take it from subsideō (“to sit in wait, remain behind”).[4] De Vaan traces sedeō to Proto-Italic *sed-ē- and Proto-Indo-European *sed-eh₁- (“to be seated”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it, spelled supsidium, for “help”: quaere ubi iūrī iūrandō tuō sit satiās supsidī, “look for where your oath will find enough support”.[2] Köbler first records it in Cicero.[3]

Semantic evolution

Subsidium was first a military term: the troops held back behind the front line as a reserve, in the old legion the third line of the triāriī, and so reserves of men or of anything.[2][4][1] It is “reinforcements, relief” sent to troops in trouble (Caesar: unless help were sent to him), and subsidiō or in subsidium “as a support”.[2][1] In general it is “help, assistance, support”, a person or thing that helps, “a resource, safeguard” (Cicero: I have prepared this resource for myself since my youth), and in poetry a place of refuge.[2][4]

Church Latin glosses it “help, aid, support, relief, provision”;[6] in medieval Latin it is the aid owed to a feudal lord.[7] English subsidy comes from it through Anglo-French in the late 14th century.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: satiās supsidī.[2][3]
  • 120–67 BC – Sisenna of reserve troops.[2][3]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar: nisi subsidium sibi submittātur.[2][3]
  • late 14th century – English subsidy.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (military) The reserve, reserve troops.[2][4][1]
  2. Reinforcements, relief.[2][1]
  3. Help, aid, support.[2][4][1][6]
  4. A resource, safeguard; a refuge.[2]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Feudal aid.[7]

Word family

  • subsidiālis
  • subsidiārius
  • subsidior

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com