declamation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English declamacioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin dēclāmātiō (“practice in speaking, declamation”),^{[5][3][6][4][2]} a noun of action from dēclāmātus, the past participle of dēclāmō (“to practise public speaking, to bluster”).^[3][7][6] The verb is formed from dē-, here perhaps intensive, and clāmō (“to cry, shout”), which Etymonline derives from Proto-Indo-European *kele- (“to shout”).^[3] The OED and the Shorter Oxford allow French déclamation as a source beside the Latin,^[5][8] and Klein takes the word from French.^[6] In Latin the noun also meant loud, eager talking.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A composition written to be declaimed, an oration: before 1387, in Trevisa's translation of Higden, where an author's works include declamaciones.^[2][3] The OED, whose entry is not fully revised, first records the word in 1523, in Skelton.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From the set rhetorical speech the word passed to the act of declaiming itself: the public speech of rhetorical character is from 1523, the action or art of reciting with studied intonation and gesture from 1552.^[5][3] Hooker used it in 1593 for a speech that plays on the hearers' feelings, a harangue.^[5][8] From 1614 it also meant impassioned speaking or fervent denunciation.^[5][8] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a discourse addressed to the passions; an harangue; a set speech; a piece of rhetorick", quoting Hooker.^[9] In music it has meant, since 1876, the proper rhetorical rendering of words set to music.^[5][10]

Timeline

• before 1387 – a composition written to be declaimed.^[2][3]
• 1523 – a public speech of rhetorical character; a set speech.^[5][3]
• 1552 – the action or art of declaiming.^[5][3]
• 1593 – an emotional speech addressed to the passions; a harangue.^[5]
• 1614 – impassioned speaking; fervent denunciation.^[5][8]
• 1876 – in music, the rhetorical rendering of words set to music.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or art of declaiming; speaking or reciting with studied rhetorical emphasis.^[11][10][8]
2. A speech or poem recited as an exercise in elocution.^[11][10]
3. An impassioned or emotional speech, especially one that protests or condemns; a harangue or tirade.^[10][11][8]
4. (music) The technique of rendering words set to music, as in recitative.^[10][5]

Related words

• declaim
• declamatory
• claim
• clamor
• exclaim
• proclaim

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster