obsequium

Latin

Alternative forms

• opsequium

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɔpˈsɛ.kʷi.ũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [obˈsɛː.kʷi.um]

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

• (allegiance): dēvōtiō
• (deference): observantia

Derived terms

• obsequiālis
• obsequiōsus

Related terms

• obsecūtiō
• obsecūtor
• obsequēla
• obsequēns
• obsequenter
• obsequentia
• obsequiae
• obsequibilis
• obsequor

Descendants

• → Catalan: obsequi
• → Galician: obsequio
• → Italian: ossequio
• → Portuguese: obséquio
• → Spanish: obsequio

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.