obnuntio Latin · revision 34341

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=2nd century BC, Pacuvius and Terence|origins=la nūntius}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɔbˈnuːn.ti.oː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [obˈnun.t͡si.o]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''obnūntiō''' (present infinitive obnūntiāre, perfect active obnūntiāvī, supine obnūntiātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|ob-|nūntiō|t2=to announce]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) [[m|la|nūntiō]] is formed from [[m|la|nūntius|t=messenger]],^(Wiktionary)^(de Vaan 2008) whose further origin de Vaan finds unclear: it has been derived from a root [[ine-pro|*neuH-|t=to cry]], not found in Latin; others connect it with [[m|la|novus|t=new]], which he finds hard to accept morphologically.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Terence on,^(de Vaan 2008) meaning to report bad news: in the ''Adelphoe'' a speaker says he is the first to learn of all their troubles and the first to report them (''primus porro obnuntio'').^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) Pacuvius has it in the same sense.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Cicero it is a technical term of augury and public life: an augur or magistrate announced an unfavourable omen in order to stop an assembly or another magistrate's action, the person obstructed in the dative (''obnuntiavit consuli'').^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Cicero writes of a law that the auspices should have no force and no one should ''obnuntiare'', and in a letter that the assembly would have met ''nisi Milo in campo obnuntiasset''.^(OLD 2012) Suetonius tells of a colleague who announced omens being driven from the forum by arms.^(OLD 2012) Georges also cites it, with the subjunctive, in the late ''Itinerarium Alexandri''.^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it of announcing bad news.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of reporting bad news.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of announcing unfavourable omens to block public business.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of a magistrate announcing omens.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|announce]] or report (bad news).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+ # ''(religion)'' To announce unfavourable [[m|en|omen|alt=omens]];^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) ''(intransitive)'' to announce such omens so as to block the action of a magistrate or an assembly.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[obnūntiātiō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[nūntiō]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The grammarian Donatus, commenting on Terence, says that the word is properly used of augurs who have seen an evil omen.^(TLL)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}