otium

Latin

Alternative forms

• ōcium (Medieval Latin)

Etymology

Uncertain; perhaps from Proto-Italic *autiom, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewtyom (“forlorn, deserted”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew (“off, away from”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈoː.ti.ũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈɔt.t͡si.um]

Noun

ōtium n (genitive ōtiī or ōtī); second declension

1. time free from activity: leisure, free time
2. time avoiding activity: idleness, inactivity

   Synonyms: dēsidia, pigritia, segnitia, ignavia, inertia, sōcordia

   Antonyms: impigritās, alacritās, strēnuitās, āctīvitās

   • 1731, Johann Jakob Brucker, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     Otium Vindelicum sive Meletematum Historico-philosophicorum Triga

     Augsburg Idleness, or, a Triga of Historico-Philosophical Essays

3. peace, repose, quiet, quietness

   Synonyms: quies, tranquillitas, serenitas, pax

   • 63 BCE, Cicero, In Catilinam orationes 1.25:

     Numquam tū nōn modo ōtium, sed nē bellum quidem nisi nefārium concupīstī.

     Not only have you never desired peace, but not even war, unless [it was a] wicked [one].

4. ease

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	ōtium	ōtia
genitive	ōtiī ōtī1	ōtiōrum
dative	ōtiō	ōtiīs
accusative	ōtium	ōtia
ablative	ōtiō	ōtiīs
vocative	ōtium	ōtia

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

Derived terms

• negōtium
• ōtiōsus

Descendants

• Catalan: oci
• French: otium
• Ido: ocio
• Italian: ozio
• Ladino: osio, אוסייו
• Norwegian Bokmål: otium
• Norwegian Nynorsk: otium
• Occitan: òci
• Portuguese: ócio
• Sicilian: uzziu (obsolete), ozziu
• Spanish: ocio

Further reading

• “otium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “otium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “otium”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to be at leisure: otium habere
    
  • to be a lover of ease, leisure: otium sequi, amplexari
    
  • (ambiguous) to use up, make full use of one's spare time: otio abūti or otium ad suum usum transferre
    
  • to retire into private life: in otium se referre (Fam. 99)
    
  • (ambiguous) to be at leisure: in otio esse or vivere
    
  • (ambiguous) to be at leisure: otio frui
    
  • (ambiguous) to have abundance of leisure: otio abundare
    
  • (ambiguous) to use up, make full use of one's spare time: otio abūti or otium ad suum usum transferre
    
  • (ambiguous) to grow slack with inactivity, stagnate: (in) otio languere et hebescere
    
  • (ambiguous) to grow slack with inactivity, stagnate: otio diffluere
    

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin otium.

Noun

otium n (definite singular otiet or otiumet, indefinite plural otier, definite plural otia or otiene)

1. rest, leisure

References

• “otium” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “otium” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin otium.

Noun

otium n (plural otiet)

1. rest, leisure

References

• “otium” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.