unctio

Forms

ūnctiō f (genitive ūnctiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin unguō (“to anoint”) + -tiō,^[2][1] and de Vaan lists it, from Plautus on, among the derivatives of that verb.^[3] Unguō goes back to Proto-Italic *ongw-e- (“to anoint”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₃engʷ-e/o- (“to anoint”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,^[3][4] who in the Stichus speaks of ūnctiōnēs Graecae sūdātōriae, Greek rubs with oil to make one sweat.^[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Cicero tells of philosophers leaving a discussion to go and anoint themselves for wrestling (ūnctiōnis causā).^[5][6] Celsus uses it often in medicine, Columella of daily anointing, and Seneca and Quintilian have it too;^[6][5] Pliny the Elder uses it for the ointment itself.^[5][6][7]

In Christian Latin it is the priestly anointing and consecration of the Vulgate,^[7] and Cyprian uses it of the anointing with the sign of the cross.^[7] In medieval Britain Bede uses it of the holy oil poured on the priest at his consecration; it was used of the anointing of kings and of the sick in danger of death, the extrēma ūnctiō, and in accounts of the greasing of shoes, carts and sheep.^[8] It survives in Italian unzione.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of Greek sweating rubs.^[7][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of anointing before wrestling.^[5][4]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of medical anointing.^[6][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for an ointment.^[5][4]
• beginning of 3rd century–258 AD – Cyprian uses it of anointing with the sign of the cross.^[7][4]
• first third of the 8th century AD – Bede uses it of the anointing of a priest.^[8][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Anointing, rubbing with oil.^[2][5][6]
2. An ointment, an unguent.^[5][6]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Sacred anointing, unction, consecration.^[9][7][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) The anointing of the sick;^[8] extrēma ūnctiō, extreme unction.^[8]
5. (Medieval Latin) The greasing of shoes, carts and the like.^[8]

Related words

• unguentum
• unguen

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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 d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson