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Can anyone confirm that the ovation was specifically so called because a sheep was sacrificed in gratitude, while in the triumph a bull was sacrificed? J S Ayer 20:16, 29 September 2005 (UTC)
- The ancient historian Plutarch says this: "it was customary for the generals in the greater triumphs to sacrifice an ox, and in the less a sheep, in Latin Ovis, whence the word 'ovation'." Some other ancient historians agreed, and some claimed it was related to a Greek word "euasmos" meaning to cry "eua!". The modern historian Mary Beard denounces Plutarch's explaination as "deperately unconvincing", but in truth the only evidence about this matter are these two ancient written explanations. Beard may simply be offended by the idea of animal sacrifice. DonPMitchell (talk) 05:15, 1 January 2012 (UTC)
Beard (2007) confirms that it wasn't. It's a spurious, though common and ancient folk-etymology whose counterpart is the equally ingenious attempt to provide "bull" as an etymology for Triumph. No pun intended, and yes, this is a rather late response to your query.
I'm always surprised and disappointed at the lack of references and citations in Roman History articles. I guess I'd better do something about this one, but am going to begin offsite then replace everything here, once I've done with the Roman Triumph copyedit. Haploidavey (talk) 01:48, 4 April 2009 (UTC)