Adopt: Roman adoption was a political… | etymologist.ai
adopt
/əˈdɒpt/·verb·1490s·Established
Origin
From Latin 'optare' (to choose) — in Rome, adoption was political: Augustus and many emperors rose through it.
Definition
To legally take another's child as one's own; to take up or start using a new idea, method, or course of action.
The Full Story
Latin1490swell-attested
From Latin 'adoptāre' (to choose for oneself, to take by choice), from 'ad-' (to, toward) + 'optāre' (to choose, to wish, to desire). The Latin 'optāre' connects to PIE *h₃ep- (to choose, to prefer, to take), which also produced Latin 'optimus' (best — literally 'the most chosen'), 'opulentus' (wealthy — having many choices), and 'ops' (power, resources). In Roman law, 'adoptio' was a precisely defined legal procedure: 'adoptio naturam imitatur' (adoption imitates nature) was the governing principle, requiring the adopter to be at least eighteen
Did you know?
Roman adoption was a political tool as much as a familyone. Julius Caesar adopted his grand-nephew Octavian in his will, making him heir; Octavian became Augustus, the first emperor. Many Roman emperors gained powerthrough adoption rather than birth, including Trajan, Hadrian,
. The metaphorical extension from children to abstractions was already present in classical Latin. Key roots: ad- (Latin: "to, toward"), optāre (Latin: "to choose, to wish"), *h₃ep- (Proto-Indo-European: "to choose, to prefer").