suppliciter

Forms

suppliciter (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin supplex (“suppliant”) + -ter.^[2][3] The OLD derives supplex probably from ⟨*sub-placos⟩, related to plācō (“to appease”) and placeō (“to please”), meaning "bringing peace-offerings";^[2] Wiktionary instead derives it from supplicō (“to pray, beseech”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[4] who in the speech for Flaccus speaks of answering humbly and submissively.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It means in an attitude of humble entreaty, suppliantly.^[2][3][1] Cicero uses it in his speeches and in De oratore, Caesar uses it, and so does Suetonius in his lives of Augustus and Tiberius.^[3] In poetry Virgil, Horace and Ovid use it.^[3] Stelten gives "suppliantly, humbly" for Church Latin.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a humble answer.^[3][4]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar.^[3]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil.^[3]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius.^[3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In humble entreaty, suppliantly, humbly, submissively.^[2][3][1][5]

Related words

• supplex
• supplicō
• supplicium

References

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