The corpus record — Latin

observatio

surveillance, observance

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

De Corona 11 · 22.62/10k
De Oratione 7 · 15.59/10k
De idolatria 5 · 7.25/10k
Technopaegnion 1 · 6.73/10k
De Divinatione 14 · 5.09/10k
De Testimionio Animae 1 · 4.47/10k
Helvius Pertinax 1 · 3.85/10k
Adversus Judaeos Liber 4 · 3.56/10k
De ieiunio adversus psychicos 2 · 3.38/10k
De Baptismo 1 · 2.34/10k
Institutio Oratoria 40 · 2.33/10k
Naturalis Historia 89 · 2.25/10k

Densest 12 of 39 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. observatio — de Vaan

observatio 'surveillance, observance' (PL+). Pit *serwo- [m.] 'shepherd', *serwo- [n.] / *serwa- [£] 'observation'. It. cognates: (1) O. serevkidimaden [abl.sg.]> σερευκιδιμαμ [acc.sg.] < *serwV- 'watching'?; (2) U. Seritu, seritu, serituu [3s.ipvJI] 'to observe' < *ser(w)T- (cf. Martzloff 2006: 634); U anseriaia [ls.pr.sb.], aserio [2s.ipv.], azeriatu, aseriatu [3s.ipv.II], anzeriatu, anseriato, aseriato [sup.], … — [de Vaan, s.v. observatio, p. 573]

2. observātĭo — Lewis & Short

observātĭo, ōnis, f.observo,

I a watching, observing, observance (class.).

I In gen.: observationi operam dare, Plaut. Mil. 2, 6, 5: siderum, Cic. Div. 1, 1, 2.—As a gift or faculty, the power of observation, Plin. 18, 29, 69, § 284.—

II In partic.

A An office, duty, service (eccl. Lat.): Dei sui et expiationis, Vulg. 2 Esdr. 12, 44: in observationibus sicut fas est, id. 1 Macc. 12, 11.—

B An observation, remark; a precept, rule (post-Aug.), Plin. 17, 21, 35, § 163: dare observationes aliquas coquendi, id. 22, 23, 47, § 99: sermonis antiqui, Suet. Gram. 24.—

C In partic., circumspection, care, exactness: summa erat observatio in bello movendo, Cic. Off. 1, 11, 36.—

D Regard, respect, esteem, reverence (post-class.): religionibus suam observationem reddere, Val. Max. 1, 1, 8: Christianitatis, Cod. Th. 12, 1, 112: divina, ib. 12, 1, 104.—

E Display, outward show (eccl. Lat.): non venit regnum Dei cum observatione, Vulg. Luc. 17, 20.—

F Observance: dierum, Gell. 3, 2, 3.

In the wild

observationem Celsus, De Medicina 1.pr.p14
observatione Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 17.21.p6
observationes Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 1.11.p83
observatione Tertullian, De Corona 2
observationes Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 1.24.p122
observatione Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 12.13.29

6 of 246 attestations shown.

Where it came from

de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. observatio (scan p. 573; entry #1619). Root candidates: *serwo-, *serwa-, *serwV-.

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Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.