supplico

Forms

supplicō (present infinitive supplicāre, perfect active supplicāvī, supine supplicātum); first conjugation^[1] It is also spelled subplicō.^[2][3] Plautus has the old perfect subjunctive supplicassis,^[2][3] and Festus quotes a tmesis sub vōs placō for vōs supplicō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from supplex (“kneeling, suppliant”).^[2][3] De Vaan places the adjective with plectō (“to plait”) and the verbs in -plicō, from ⟨*sub-plVk-⟩ “to bend upwards, beg”, but notes that it has also been derived from the root of placeō (“to please”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^[4] Its oldest witness is the Carmen Saliare, “worship the god of gods”,^[2] and Plautus has it of seeking the goodwill of someone one has wronged.^[2]

Semantic evolution

With a dative it is to seek someone's favour with offerings, and in general to petition humbly, as Plautus' woman who never needs to beg the greengrocer if she has a garden at home.^[2] With gods it is to make propitiatory offerings or worship, also in thanks for a victory, as Plautus' “since I have done well, I will give thanks here in the temple”.^[2] In the jurists it takes an accusative, to implore someone.^[2]

Döderlein contrasts precārī, the calm act of prayer with hands raised, with supplicāre, passionate supplication on one's knees or on the ground; by exaggeration it is any humble request to a human being.^[5] Church Latin glosses it “entreat, implore, beseech, beg”.^[6] English supplicate, from the early 15th century, is a back-formation from supplication or from the Latin participle.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of begging for favours and of thanksgiving in a temple.^[2][8]
• early 15th century – English supplicate.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To seek the goodwill of someone one has wronged; to beg humbly, beseech.^[2][1][6]
2. To make propitiatory offerings to a god, worship; to give thanks for a success.^[2][1]
3. With an accusative, to petition, implore.^[2][6]

Word family

• supplicāmentum
• supplicātiō
• supplicator

Related words

• supplex
• supplicium
• precor
• English supplicate
• English supple

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de