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Origin and history of obsequious

obsequious(adj.)

late 15c., "prompt to serve, meekly compliant with the will or wishes of another, dutiful," from Latin obsequiosus "compliant, obedient," from obsequium "compliance, dutiful service," from obsequi "to accommodate oneself to the will of another," from ob "after" (see ob-) + sequi "to follow" (from PIE root *sekw- (1) "to follow"). Pejorative sense of "fawning, sycophantic, unduly compliant" had emerged by 1590s. Related: Obsequiously; obsequiousness (mid-15c.).

also from late 15c.

Entries linking to obsequious

obsequy(n.)

late 14c., obsequi, in plural, "funeral rites, a funeral," from Anglo-French obsequie, Old French obseque, osseque "funeral rites" and directly from Medieval Latin obsequiae, influenced in sense by confusion of Latin obsequium "compliance" (see obsequious) with exsequiae "funeral rites." Typically in plural, obsequies.

ob-

word-forming element meaning "toward; against; before; near; across; down," also used as an intensive, from Latin ob (prep.) "in the direction of, in front of, before; toward, to, at, upon, about; in the way of; with regard to, because of," from PIE root *epi, also *opi "near, against" (see epi-).

*sekw-(1)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to follow."

It might form all or part of: associate; association; consequence; consequent; dissociate; ensue; execute; extrinsic; intrinsic; obsequious; persecute; persecution; prosecute; pursue; second (adj.) "next after first;" second (n.) "one-sixtieth of a minute;" sect; secundine; segue; sequacious; sequel; sequence; sequester; sociable; social; society; socio-; subsequent; sue; suit; suite; suitor; tocsin.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit sacate "accompanies, follows;" Avestan hacaiti, Greek hepesthai "to follow;" Latin sequi "to follow, come after," secundus "second, the following;" Lithuanian seku, sekti "to follow;" Old Irish sechim "I follow."

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    spaniel
    fawning person" is by 1590s, in reference to the animal's docile and affectionate nature; it also was used as a verb, "be obsequious...
    supple
    .; figurative sense of "artfully obsequious, capable of adapting oneself to the wishes and opinions of others" is from c....
    buxom
    In Johnson [1755] the primary meaning still is "obedient, obsequious."...
    festive
    When the Day crown'd with rural, chaste Delight Resigns obsequious to the festive Night; The festive Night awakes th'...
    bias
    1520s, "oblique or diagonal line," from French biais "a slant, a slope, an oblique," also figuratively, "an expedient, means" (13c., originally in Old French a past-participle adjective, "sideways, askance, against the grain"), a word of unknown origin. Probably it came to French
    orange
    late 14c., in reference to the fruit of the orange tree (late 13c. as a surname), from Old French orange, orenge (12c., Modern French orange), from Medieval Latin pomum de orenge, from Italian arancia, originally narancia (Venetian naranza), an alteration of Arabic naranj, from P
    turkey
    1540s, originally "guinea fowl" (Numida meleagris), a bird imported from Madagascar via Turkey, and called guinea fowl when brought by Portuguese traders from West Africa. The larger North American bird (Meleagris gallopavo) was domesticated by the Aztecs, introduced to Spain by
    Florida
    U.S. state, formerly a Spanish colony, probably from Spanish Pascua florida, literally "flowering Easter," a Spanish name for Palm Sunday, and so named because the peninsula was discovered on that day (March 20, 1513) by the expedition of Spanish explorer Ponce de León. From Lati
    perpendicular
    late 15c., perpendiculer, of a line, "lying at right angles to the horizon" (in astronomy, navigation, etc.), from an earlier adverb (late 14c.), "at right angles to the horizon," from Old French perpendiculer, from Late Latin perpendicularis "vertical, as a plumb line," from Lat
    skill
    early 12c., "knowledge, divine wisdom;" late 12c., "power of discernment, sound judgment; that which is reasonable," senses all now obsolete, from Old Norse skil "distinction, ability to make out, discernment, adjustment," which is related to skilja (v.) "to separate; discern, un

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