is a Latin abstract term which has a variety of meanings, including leisure time for "self-realization activities" such as eating, playing, relaxing, contemplation and academic endeavors. It sometimes relates to a time in a person's retirement after previous service to the public or private sector, as opposed to "active public life" (the negative negotium meaning "busy-ness"). Otium can be a temporary or sporadic time of leisure. It can have intellectual, virtuous or immoral implications.
The concept originally expressed the idea of withdrawing from one's daily business or affairs to engage in activities that were considered to be artistically valuable or enlightening (i.e., speaking, writing, philosophy), and had particular meaning to businessmen, diplomats, philosophers and poets.
Early usage
In ancient Roman culture otium was a military concept as its first Latin usage. This was in Ennius' Iphigenia.
According to historian Carl Deroux in his work Studies in Latin literature and Roman history, the word otium appears for the first time in a chorus of Ennius' Iphigenia. Ennius' first use of the term otium around 190 BC showed the restlessness and boredom during a reprieve from war and was termed otium negotiosum (free time to do what one wanted) and otium otiosum (idle wasteless free time). Aulus Gellius, while discussing the word praeterpropter ("more or less") quotes a fragment of Ennius's Iphigenia, which contrasts otium with negotium repeatedly. Ennius imagined the emotions of Agamemnon's soldiers at Aulus, that while in the field and not at war and not allowed to go home, as "more or less" living.
The earliest extant appearance of the word in Latin literature occurs in a fragment from the soldiers' chorus in the Iphigenia of Ennius, where it is contrasted to . Researchers have determined the etymological and semantic use of was never a direct translation of the Greek word "schole", but derived from specifically Roman contexts. is an example of the usage of the term "praeterpropter", meaning more or less of leisure. It was first used in military terms related to inactivity during war. In ancient Roman times soldiers were many times unoccupied, resting and bored to death when not at war (i.e., winter months, weather not permitting war). This was associated with (unoccupied and pointless leisure – idle leisure). The opposite of this was (busy leisure) – leisure with a satisfying hobby or being able to take care of one's personal affairs or one's own estate. This was (private leisure), equal to (a type of business).
The oldest citation for otium is this chorus of soldiers, singing about idleness on campaign, in an otherwise lost Latin tragedy by Ennius. Andre shows in these lines that Ennius is showing the soldiers in the field would rather go home tending to their own affairs () than to be idle doing nothing. Its military origin meant to stop fighting in battle and lay down weapons – a time for peace. Even though originally was a military concept in early Roman culture of laying down one's weapons, it later became an elite prestigious time for caring for oneself. The ancient Romans had a sense of obligatory work ethics in their culture and considered the idle-leisure definition of as a waste of time. Historians of ancient Roman considered a time of laborious leisure of much personal duties instead of public duties. Author Almasi shows that historians Jean-Marie Andre and Brian Vickers point out the only legitimate form of was transpired with intellectual activity. was thought of by the wise elite as being free from work and other obligations () and leisure time spent on productive activities, however a time that should not be wasted as was thought the non-elite did with their leisure time.