allegoria

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [al.leːˈɡɔ.ri.a]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [al.leˈɡɔː.ri.a]^[1]

Forms

allēgoria f (genitive allēgoriae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀλληγορία (allēgoría, “allegory”).^[2][1][3] The Greek word is from ἄλλος (állos, “other”) and ἀγορεύω (agoreúō, “to speak in public”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero still writes it in Greek letters.^[5][6] Quintilian uses it in Latin, saying that a continued metaphor turns into allegory and riddles.^[5] Köbler dates Quintilian about 35–95/96 AD.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In rhetoric it was a figure that sets out a thought under an image carried through to the end, which Georges describes as a metaphor extended over several ideas; its native Latin name was inversio.^[5][6] The Vulgate uses it in Galatians of things said allegorically, and Arnobius writes of explanations of allegories.^[5]

Christian and medieval writers used it above all of the allegorical interpretation of Scripture, one of the senses of the text beside the historical, tropological and anagogical, as in Aldhelm.^[7][8][9] Medieval Latin also used it in alchemy.^[8] English allegory came from Old French in the late 14th century.^[10]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the Greek word, in Greek letters.^[5][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian discusses it as a figure of speech.^[5][4]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Galatians.^[5][4]
• late 14th century – English allegory is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. An allegory, an extended metaphor.^[2][5]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) allegorical interpretation.^[7][8]

Word family

• allēgoricus
• allēgorizō

Related words

• English allegory

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com