accipio/accepto

[Alan Jones]

What is the proper Latin word for "accept", as in agreeing to serve in high
office? I am told that in Morris West's "The Shoes of the Fisherman" the new
Pope is asked "Acceptasne?" and replies "Accepto". To be honest, I didn't
know there was such a verb as "accepto -are", having learned only
"accipio -ere", but I see it in Lewis & Short (at the Perseus site) marked
as "freq." This appears to indicate it has "frequentative" sense, and if
that's so it would be a strange word for accepting a once-in-a-lifetime
calling!

L&S has only two citations for the verb "accepto" (Plautus and Quintilian),
and (as far as I had patience to check) the many instances of the word
"accepto" in the Perseus corpus of texts are of "accipio" in the m/n dative
or ablative sing. perfect participle. Is the verb "accepto" in the given
sense possibly a Late or ecclesiastical Latin word? (But among the citations
for "accipio" are Jerome, Bede and Erasmus.)

Alan Jones

[John Briggs]

Post by Alan Jones
What is the proper Latin word for "accept", as in agreeing to serve
in high office? I am told that in Morris West's "The Shoes of the
Fisherman" the new Pope is asked "Acceptasne?" and replies "Accepto".
To be honest, I didn't know there was such a verb as "accepto -are",
having learned only "accipio -ere", but I see it in Lewis & Short (at
the Perseus site) marked as "freq." This appears to indicate it has
"frequentative" sense, and if that's so it would be a strange word
for accepting a once-in-a-lifetime calling!

It is certainly the formula used in the election of Linus II in 1994 :-)

http://www.geocities.com/prakashjm45/hagenpentzite.html

[John Briggs]

Post by John Briggs

Post by Alan Jones
What is the proper Latin word for "accept", as in agreeing to serve
in high office? I am told that in Morris West's "The Shoes of the
Fisherman" the new Pope is asked "Acceptasne?" and replies "Accepto".
To be honest, I didn't know there was such a verb as "accepto -are",
having learned only "accipio -ere", but I see it in Lewis & Short (at
the Perseus site) marked as "freq." This appears to indicate it has
"frequentative" sense, and if that's so it would be a strange word
for accepting a once-in-a-lifetime calling!

It is certainly the formula used in the election of Linus II in 1994 :-)
http://www.geocities.com/prakashjm45/hagenpentzite.html

However, it is not clear that Latin was even employed in the election of
Pius XIII:

http://www.truecatholic.org/pope/

[Johannes Patruus]

Post by Alan Jones
What is the proper Latin word for "accept", as in agreeing to serve in high
office? I am told that in Morris West's "The Shoes of the Fisherman" the new
Pope is asked "Acceptasne?" and replies "Accepto". To be honest, I didn't
know there was such a verb as "accepto -are", having learned only
"accipio -ere", but I see it in Lewis & Short (at the Perseus site) marked
as "freq." This appears to indicate it has "frequentative" sense, and if
that's so it would be a strange word for accepting a once-in-a-lifetime
calling!
L&S has only two citations for the verb "accepto" (Plautus and

Quintilian),

Post by Alan Jones
and (as far as I had patience to check) the many instances of the word
"accepto" in the Perseus corpus of texts are of "accipio" in the m/n dative
or ablative sing. perfect participle. Is the verb "accepto" in the given
sense possibly a Late or ecclesiastical Latin word? (But among the citations
for "accipio" are Jerome, Bede and Erasmus.)

I don't see anything wrong with using accipio, as in the following example
from Bradley's Arnold (Ex.7A:9) -
Tradunt eum delatum a civitate et principibus regnum accipere noluisse.
There is a tradition that he refused to accept the crown (when) offered
by the nation and (its) chief men.

Both "accipio" and "accepto" are entered in Stelten's Dictionary of
Ecclesiastical Latin as meaning "accept, receive".

Johannes

[Rolleston]

Post by Alan Jones
To be honest, I didn't
know there was such a verb as "accepto -are", having learned only
"accipio -ere", but I see it in Lewis & Short (at the Perseus site) marked
as "freq." This appears to indicate it has "frequentative" sense, and if
that's so it would be a strange word for accepting a once-in-a-lifetime
calling!

The abbreviation may mean "frequent", as it apparently does in this
extract from their "habeo" entry:

II.C.2. With a double object, esp. freq. with the part. perf. pass. [...]

R.