optio Latin · revision 7252
16 Oct 2026, 13:23 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Plautus|origins=la optō}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈɔp.ti.oː]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɔp.t͡si.o]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''optiō''' ''f'' (genitive optiōnis); third declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is from the root of [[optō]] “to choose, wish”, *opio-, with the suffix [[-tiō]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) The OLD compares [[xum|opeter|t=chosen]] and [[osc|ufteis|t=of desire, choice]].^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus, of choice and of an assistant.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ As a feminine it meant the power of choosing, choice, option, as Plautus' ''optiō haec tua est'' “the choice is yours” and Cicero's ''optiō vōbīs datur''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) In Quintilian it was the right of a hero to choose his reward, and in Apuleius the act of choosing.^(OLD 2012) As a masculine it meant a junior officer chosen by a centurion or decurion to assist him, as in Varro and Tacitus, and in Plautus any assistant.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+
+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant choice, option.^(Stelten 1995) [[en|option]] came about 1600 through French.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of choice and of an assistant.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a military assistant.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses ''optiō vōbīs datur''.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 1600 – English ''option'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # ''(feminine)'' Choice, [[m|en|option]]; the right to choose.^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(masculine, military)'' An officer assisting a centurion, an [[m|en|adjutant]].^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(masculine)'' An assistant.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[optiōnātus]]
+ * [[suboptiō]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[optō]]
+ * [[en|option]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}