Etymologically
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vexatio

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Forms

vexātiō f (genitive vexātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin vexō (“to shake, harass”) + -tiō.[2][1] De Vaan takes vexō as perhaps an iterative of a participle ⟨*vexus⟩ “moved” of vehō, like flexō, or else as a separate s-present.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first quotation in the OLD is Cicero's, who wants to rescue the Vestal virgins from the cruellest harassment;[2] Köbler dates it from Seneca.[4]

Semantic evolution

It is a violent movement, shaking or jolting: Livy has men rolling forward with their arms and baggage amid every kind of jolting, Seneca says a tree is strengthened by being shaken, and Pliny the Elder and Petronius use it too.[2][5] It is harsh or violent treatment, harassment and persecution, and the causing of distress or hardship: Cicero defines afflīctātiō as grief with bodily distress.[2] Figuratively Seneca says virtue is strengthened by constant trial.[5] Church Latin glosses it annoyance, trial or ill-treatment.[6] English borrowed vexation about 1400, first as legal harassment.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of harassment and of bodily distress.[2][4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of jolting on a march.[2][4]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of a tree strengthened by shaking and of virtue tried.[5][4]
  • c. 1400 – English vexation borrowed from Old French or Latin.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Violent movement, agitation, shaking, jolting.[2][5][1]
  2. Harsh treatment, harassment, persecution.[2][1][6]
  3. Distress, hardship, trouble; a trial.[2][5][1]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com