“An ovation was the lesser Roman triumph — not quite a full parade through Rome, but a commander's recognition for a victory won without enough bloodshed to qualify for the real thing.”
Latin ovatio derived from ovare (to rejoice, to exult). The ovatio was a lesser form of military triumph in Rome — a procession awarded to a general who had won a significant but not fully qualifying victory. The criteria for a full triumph were strict: the enemy must be an external, declared enemy; the victory must have killed at least 5,000; the war must have been formally concluded. A commander who won without quite meeting those standards received an ovation instead.
In an ovatio, the general walked or rode a horse through Rome rather than riding in a chariot. He wore a toga praetexta and a myrtle crown rather than the full triumphal toga and laurel wreath. Cicero received an ovation after his command in Cilicia in 50 BCE; Crassus received one after suppressing Spartacus's slave revolt in 71 BCE, since Roman law did not allow a full triumph over slaves.
The connection between the Latin ovatio and the modern English ovation is not etymologically direct — modern standing ovation derives from ovation as applause, which English adopted from Latin ovatio in the 17th century. The celebratory shouting and cheering of the Roman ovatio became the metaphor for enthusiastic audience applause.
A standing ovation is now the highest form of audience approval — a physical demonstration of enthusiasm that exceeds the normal seated clapping. The Roman general's lesser-than-triumph procession has become the audience's greater-than-normal response. The lesser military honor became the superlative audience honor. The ovation was upgraded in transit.
Related Words
Today
Inflation has reached the standing ovation. It is now routine at Broadway shows regardless of quality, at corporate presentations for adequate performance, at graduation ceremonies for every speaker. The standing ovation that was meant to mark exceptional response has become the default for audiences who do not want to seem ungrateful.
The Roman understood this danger. The ovation was already the lesser honor — the recognition that something was praiseworthy but not transcendent. When we give standing ovations for the ordinary, we have lost the distinction. The general who walked rather than rode in the chariot knew exactly what he had and had not been given.
Explore more words