Etymologically
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successio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sʊkˈkɛs.si.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [sutˈt͡ʃɛs.si.o][1]

Forms

successiō f (genitive successiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin succēdō (“to come after, succeed”) + -tiō.[2][1][3] succēdō is a compound of sub- and cēdō1 (“to go, withdraw”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *kesd-e/o- (“to go away, avoid”), following Lubotsky's link with Proto-Indo-European *ḱiesdʰ- (“to drive away; go away”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler finds it first in Cicero,[5] who says in the De finibus that the removal of pain brings about the succession of pleasure.[2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it mostly post-Augustan.[6] It is above all succession to an office, throne or property: Brutus writes of a man claiming Antony's place as reward for crushing him, Caelius of Pompey being asked about the succession to Caesar, and Pliny the Elder of Nero's succession as emperor.[2][6] By metonymy it is a line of successors, as Pliny the Elder's art not kept up by famous or continuous successors.[2] In Medieval Latin it is lineage, descent, and the generations to come.[7] Stelten gives “succession, advance, progress, issue”.[8] English succession, first in the sense of succeeding someone by inheritance, dates from the early 14th century, from Old French and directly from Latin.[3]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of pleasure succeeding pain.[2][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, of successors in an art.[2][5]
  • Medieval Latin – Lineage, descent.[7]
  • early 14th century – English succession.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A coming into the place of another, succession to an office, throne or property.[2][6][1][8]
  2. The replacement of one thing by another.[2]
  3. (collective) Successors.[2][1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Lineage, descent; future generations.[7]

References

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