cxxxv

Theme for this month: Word chains

arcesso, arcessere, arcessivi, arcessitum

Definition: to send for, fetch; (law) to summon, accuse; (fig) to derive

Sententia: Iris crinem Didonis arcessivit ut animus reginae solveretur, quia cum Dido ante tempus mortua esset, Proserpina non delatum ad infernos locos eam venit.

Iris fetched a [lock of] hair of Dido so that the soul of the queen might be loosened [thus being able to go to the underworld], because since Dido had died before [her] time, Proserpina did not come for the sake of leading her down to the underworld.

NB: The sentence is based on events from the very end of Book 4 of Vergil's Aeneid, so if you want more information, you can look at that.

This word occurs once on the collective AP Latin Syllabi (Vergil+Ovid/Catullus), in Vergil's Aeneid, Book 6, and several other times in Ovid and in the Aeneid. To use this word in the last, extraordinarily useful (not to mention cool!) meaning listed, verba e quibus hic arcessit non sciuntur. A notable synonym of this word is "accio," meaning that if this word had caught the fancy of J.K. Rowling, Harry and the rest of the denizens of the magical world waving their wands could have popularized the word "arcesso" as the spell to summon objects. "Arcesso" even occurs more often in Latin literature--253 times according to Perseus, as opposed to 147 occurrences of "accio." In that case, perhaps instead I would be sharing "accio" with you today! Another note: "arceo," the word just above "arcesso" in my dictionary, is indeed the antonym of this week's word, meaning "to contain, keep away" (as well as assorted other meanings, of course). Atque, cavetote!