Obsequious means fawning and over-eager to please. An obsequious waiter, obsequious flattery, obsequious to his superiors.
The excess is the whole complaint, since the same behaviour in smaller measure would simply be attentive. It is nearly always directed upwards, which is what makes it contemptible rather than merely tiresome.
1adjectiveobsequiousFawning and over-eager to please.
“The obsequious waiter bowed and smiled every time the rich man spoke.”
obsequious is a quality.
The Latin is following close behind, the same following in sequence. Obsequious is walking a step behind somebody and agreeing with all of it.
hooks ontosequence
Latin obsequiosus comes from obsequium, compliance, from obsequi, to comply with.
Proto-Indo-European
*sekʷ-
Latin
obsequiōsus — complaisant, obsequious
Middle English
obsequyous
English, today
obsequious
Built from
From Middle English obsequyous, from Latin obsequiōsus (“complaisant, obsequious”), from obsequium (“compliance”), from obsequor (“comply with, yield to”), from ob (“in the direction of, towards”) + sequor (“follow”) (cf. sequel).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA