obsequium

Latin

Alternative forms

Etymology

From obsequor (submit to, yield to) +‎ -ium.

Pronunciation

Noun

obsequium n (genitive obsequiī or obsequī); second declension

  1. complaisance, yielding, compliance, obedience; allegiance; deference, obsequiousness, flattery
    • 166 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Andria 1.67–68:
      Sapienter vītam īnstituit: namque hōc tempore / obsequium amīcōs, vēritās odium parit.
      [How] wisely he arranged his life: for in this age flattery [gains] friends, truth provokes hatred.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

singular plural
nominative obsequium obsequia
genitive obsequiī
obsequī1
obsequiōrum
dative obsequiō obsequiīs
accusative obsequium obsequia
ablative obsequiō obsequiīs
vocative obsequium obsequia

1Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Catalan: obsequi
  • Galician: obsequio
  • Italian: ossequio
  • Portuguese: obséquio
  • Spanish: obsequio, obsequiosidad

References

  • obsequium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • obsequium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • "obsequium", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • obsequium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.