oblivium

English

Etymology

From Latin oblīvium.

Noun

oblivium (uncountable)

1. (rare, obsolete or nonstandard) Oblivion.
   • 1699, John Evelyn, Acetaria. A Discourse of Sallets., London: […] B[enjamin] Tooke […], page 54:

     Perſley, Petroſelinum, or Apium hortenſe; being hot and dry, opens Obſtructions, is very Diuretic, yet nouriſhing, edulcorated in ſhifted warm Water (the Roots eſpecially) but of leſs Vertue than Alexanders; nor ſo convenient in our crude Sallet, as when decocted on a Medicinal Account. Some few tops of the tender Leaves may yet be admitted; tho’ it was of old, we read, never brought to the Table at all, as ſacred to Oblivium and the Defunct.

   • 1815, William Berry, compiler, The History of the Island of Guernsey, Part of the Ancient Duchy of Normandy, from the Remotest Period of Antiquity to the Year 1814. […], London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and John Hatchard, […], page 260:

     To this purpose, calling to mind how their dissenting in matter of worship and Church government, from that which was used and established in the rest of our dominions, was the chief, if not the only, cause of the late disorders amongst them; we have thought it the best way, for preventing the like in time to come, as to comprehend them in the common Act of Oblivium; […]

   • 1823 May, Arietta [pseudonym], “Sleep.—A Fragment.”, in The European Magazine, and London Review: […], volume 83, London: […] [F]or the Proprietors, by Lupton Relfe, […], page 389, columns 1–2:

     Best friend of frail humanity, and like all other friends best estimated in its loss. Who has not known the value of oblivium whene’er some newly past or close impending evil has flung its giant shadows athwart the morning twilight of the soul?

   • 1838 April 14, Marshall Hall, “Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Medicine; Now in Course of Delivery at the Theatre of Anatomy and Medicine, Webb-Street, Southwark”, in Thomas Wakley, editor, The Lancet, […], volume II, number 763, London: […] [F]or the Editor, by George Churchill, […], page 67, columns 1–2:

     Sometimes the attack consists in a momentary loss of consciousness, “oblivium quoddam et delirium adeo breve, ut fere ad se redeat, priusquam ab adstantibus animadvertatur.” — Heberdeni Comment., cap. 33. Sometimes this oblivium precedes the attack of convulsion. […] Does such a spasmodic action take place in the muscles of the neck unnoticed, compress the veins which convey the blood from the brain, and induce the oblivium to which I have just alluded?

   • 1849 March 17, Marshall Hall, “Observations on the Neck as a Medical Region, on Trachelismus, and on Paroxysmal Diseases of the Nervous System. (Second Series.)”, in Thomas Wakley, editor, The Lancet. […], volume I, number 1333, London: […] [F]or the Editor, […] by George Churchill, […], pages 285–287:

     There is no order, no degree, in which the muscles of the neck may not act, and in which the veins of the neck may not be compressed; there is no form of cerebral and spinal paroxysmal derangement—from a momentary oblivium or delirium to coma or mania—from the slightest spasmodic or paralytic affection to epilepsy or hemiplegia—which may not take place as consequences of that compression. […] Let us imagine a similar condition of the internal jugular; there will be a state of blushing, in other words, of congestion of the cerebrum, with oblivium, stupor, or even apoplexy. […] This statement may be expanded into the different modes and forms of diseases of the nervous system, in their cerebral and spinal portions. Hence we have stupor, oblivium, cerebral epilepsy, vertigo, headach, delirium, flashes of light, muscæ, flocci, dimness, amaurosis in every degree, tinnitus, and other noises, dulness, deafness; […]

   • 1867, John King, The Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Pathology, and Treatment of Chronic Diseases, Cincinnati, Oh.: […] Moore, Wilstach & Baldwin, page 200:

     These premonitory symptoms are, dull pain in the head, with a sense of weight or heaviness, the pain may be located at any part, but mostly around the occipital region; […] slight faintness or vertigo, with paleness of countenance, and momentary disturbed intellect or oblivium; […]

   • 1920 January 24, J[ames] Harman Stover, “‘The Hills’”, in The Gospel Messenger, volume 69, number 4, Elgin, Ill., page 52, column 3:

     The descent of the waters man calls “gravity,” but each murmur is a seeming protest against its final destiny of oblivium in some murky, sluggish river at the foot of the mountain.

   • 1924, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “Fanny Discovers Herself”, in The Dream, London: Jonathan Cape […], § 5, page 182:

     ‘And what are you going to do, Ernie? Are you for turning down Fanny? And letting the cheese pies just drop into the mud of Oblivium, as the saying goes, and be forgotten for ever and ever and ever?’

   • 1924 February 12, “Minerva’s Mail: Take Your Troubles to Minerva”, in The Lincoln Star, Lincoln, Neb., page five, column 3:

     You will see a housecleaning pretty soon, girlie, and some of our old favorites will be sucked into the vacuum cleaner and dumped in the ashpit of oblivium.

   • 1934 February, Rupert Hughes, “Love Song”, in H[arry] P[ayne] Burton, editor, Hearst’s International Combined with Cosmopolitan, volume XCVI, number 2, New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, Inc., page 166, column 3:

     He kept bragging of the worst moments, celebrating his glory as “the greates’ failure in the worl’s hissery. My magnum opus ran one-half of one consecutive night. So let’s open us a magnum. Three tears for oblivium.”

   • 1962, Pearl Kibre, “Scholarly Privileges at Padua”, in Scholarly Privileges in the Middle Ages: The Rights, Privileges, and Immunities, of Scholars and Universities at Bologna, Padua, Paris, and Oxford (Mediaeval Academy of America Publication No. 72), Cambridge, Mass.: Mediaeval Academy of America, page 71:

     At the same time, they asserted, that since the rectors of Padua were so occupied with a multitude of duties that they were leaving the studium fall into oblivium, they should each year select four responsible citizens (boni cives) who would serve as ‘Sollecitores,’ and reformers of the studium.

   • 1967, Benjamin Kaplan, “How the Mighty Have Fallen”, in The Jew and His Family, Baton Rouge, Fla.: Louisiana State University Press, →LCCN, page 157:

     As a matter of fact, the problem is not of mere survival. Jews will survive as a group, and, despite the fact that many of them would like to fuse and disappear, they cannot, because the doors to the inner sanctum of oblivium are closed to them. Jews will continue to exist, but physical existence alone is hardly an admirable state of being.

   • 1976 March 2, Melanie Johnson, “‘The Marriage Game’”, in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian, volume CV, number 25, Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Amherst, page 8, column 2:

     Programs that feature single women usually fade into oblivium or the stars marry; American viewers have little interest in a single woman’s adventures.

   • 2012 January, “Presentation”, in Rosynella Cardozo, Violeta Linares, transl., Simón Díaz: Musical Works, Caracas: Cálidos Producciones Artísticas CBM S.A., →ISBN, page 4:

     In Simón Díaz case, it was absolutely necessary to keep safe his works from the risks of oblivium or adulteration.

     [original: En el caso de Simón Díaz era imperiosamente necesario impedir que su aporte quedara librado a los riesgos de olvido o adulteración.]

Latin

Etymology

From oblīvīscor (“forget”) +‎ -ium.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /obˈliː.u̯i.um/, [ɔbˈlʲiːu̯iʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /obˈli.vi.um/, [obˈliːvium]

Noun

oblīvium n (genitive oblīviī or oblīvī); second declension

1. forgetfulness
2. oblivion

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	oblīvium	oblīvia
genitive	oblīviī oblīvī1	oblīviōrum
dative	oblīviō	oblīviīs
accusative	oblīvium	oblīvia
ablative	oblīviō	oblīviīs
vocative	oblīvium	oblīvia

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

Descendants

• → English: oblivium
• → Portuguese: oblívio

References

• “oblivium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “oblivium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• oblivium in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• oblivium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.