The corpus record — Latin

otium

spare time, relaxation

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

Where it lives

De Otio 13 · 66.29/10k
De Est et Non, Appendix Vergiliana 1 · 58.82/10k
De Bissula 1 · 27.25/10k
Epistularum 2 · 25/10k
De Brevitate Vitae 15 · 24.26/10k
Hamilcar 1 · 19.34/10k
Pelopidas 1 · 14.04/10k
Timoleon 1 · 12.08/10k
De Tranquillitate Animi 9 · 11.91/10k
De Lege Agraria 16 · 11.61/10k
Cum Populo Gratias Egit 3 · 11.36/10k
Epistularum 10 · 11/10k

Densest 12 of 210 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. otium — de Vaan

otium 'spare time, relaxation' [n. d] (Pl,+) · Derivatives: otiosus 'at leisure, inactive' (P1.+); negotium 'work, business, difficulty' (PI,+), negotiolum 'little business, slight difficulty' (P1.+), negotiosus 'occupied, busy' (PI.+), For otium^ an etymology involving *au- is unattractive, since there is no evidence for *au-. Benveniste 1951 argues that negotium must have been a nominal cp, *nec-otiwn from the … — [de Vaan, s.v. otium, p. 451]

2. ōtĭum — Lewis & Short

ōtĭum, ĭi, n.

I In gen., leisure, vacant time, freedom from business (class.; opp. negotium; cf.: immunitas, vacatio): otio qui nescit uti plus negoti habet, Quam, etc., Enn. ap. Gell. 19, 10, 12 (Trag. v. 252 Vahl.): fecero; quamquam haut otium est, Plaut. Poen. 4, 2, 36: tantumne ab re tuast oti tibi? Ter. Heaut. 1, 1, 23: clarorum virorum atque magnorum non minus otii quam negotii rationem exstare oportere, Cato ap. Cic. Planc. 27, 66: in otio de negotiis cogitare, Cic. Off. 3, 1, 1: otium inertissimum et desidiosissimum, id. Agr. 2, 33, 91.—

II In partic.

A Ease, inactivity, idle life (cf.: ignavia, desidia, inertia): vitam in otio agere, Ter. Ad. 5, 4, 9: hebescere et languescere in otio, Cic. Ac. 2, 2, 4: propter desidiam in otio vivere, id. Agr. 2, 37, 103: otio tabescere, id. Att. 2, 14, 1: languere otio, id. N. D. 1, 4, 7: otium segne trahere, Tac. H. 4, 70: magna otia caeli, Juv. 6, 394: otium sine litteris mors est, Sen. Ep. 82, 2: ducere otia segnia, Ov. P. 1, 5, 44: exercere otia molli cura, Sil. 15, 707. —

B Leisure, time for any thing; esp. for literary occupation: otium moderatum atque honestum, Cic. Brut. 2, 8: ad scribendum, id. Or. 1, 1, 3: otium consumere in historiā scribendā, id. de Or. 2, 13, 57: otium litteratum, id. Tusc. 5, 36, 105: Tusculani requies atque otium, id. de Or. 1, 52, 224: studiosum, Plin. Ep. 1, 22, 11: abundare otio et studio, Cic. de Or. 1, 6, 22: otium rei si sit, Plaut. Mil. 3, 1, 165: otium habere ad potandum, Ter. Phorm. 5, 5, 3: auscultandi, time to hear, id. Ad. 3, 65: horum libros delectationi causa, cum est otium, legere soleo, when I have time, Cic. de Or. 2, 14, 59: si modo tibi est otium, if you have time, id. Part. Or. 1, 1: otium studio suppeditare, to devote time to study, Auct. Her. 1, 1, 1: cum in otium venerimus, Cic. Att. 1, 7: me alebat Parthenope studiis florentem ignobilis oti, i. e. unwarlike, peaceful leisure, Verg. G. 4, 564.—

2 The fruit of leisure: otia nostra, i. e. my poems, Ov. Tr. 2, 224.—

C Rest, repose, quiet, peace (opp. bellum), Ter. Ad. prol. 20: pax, tranquillitas, otium, Cic. Agr. 2, 37, 102: mollia peragebant otia, enjoyed calm repose, Ov. M. 1, 100: multitudo insolens belli diuturnitate otii, Caes. B. C. 2, 36: res ad otium deducere, id. ib. 1, 5: valde me ad otium pacemque converto, Cic. Q. Fr. 3, 5, 5: ex maximo bello tantum otium toti insulae conciliavit, Nep. Tim. 3, 2: studia per otium concelebrata, in times of peace, Cic. Inv. 1, 3, 4: ab hoste otium fuit, Liv. 3, 32: ab seditionibus urbanis, id. 3, 35: otium bello (rogare), Hor. C. 2, 16, 5; 4, 15, 18: quies aëris et otium et tranquillitas, Sen. Q. N. 1, 2, 8: operis otium, Plin. 11, 10, 10, § 25.—

D Adverb.

1 Abl. otio, at leisure, leisurely: quam libet lambe otio, Phaedr. 1, 24, 6.—

2 Per otium, at leisure: spolia legere, Liv. 27, 2.

3. otium — Walde–Hofmann

otium, -3 n. „Ruhe von Berufstätigkeit, freie Zeit, Muße“ (seit Enn., rom., ebenso ötissus „müßig“ seit Enn. [in- seit Enn.; ótiósitäs f. seit Schol. Hor.]; ötiolum n. „etwas Mufe* Cael. Cic., ötior, àri „habe Muße* seit Canius bei Cic. off. 3,58 und Hor.; vgl. negotium): Et. unsicher. Nach Fick I* 123 (vgl. Schulze KZ. 40, 414ff. = Kl. Schr. 70ff) aus *au-tiom zu au- ort", vgl mit demselben Suff. -tà „gr außja- … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. otium, p. 1134]

In the wild

otio Cicero, De Republica 1.1
oti Cicero, De Oratore 1.2
otium Livy, Ab urbe condita, books 1-5 - 4 p35
otium Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, books 1-2 - 1 p50
otii Suetonius, Galba 9.1
oti Cicero, Pro P. Sestio 99

6 of 980 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. otium (scan pp. 451-452; entry #1225). Root candidates: *au-, *owi-, *ow-.
Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. Otium (scan p. 495; entry #8038).
Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. otium (scan pp. 1134-1135; entry #1920). Root candidates: *ayo-, *eu-.

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.