alludo

Forms

allūdō (present infinitive allūdere, perfect active allūsī, supine allūsum); third conjugation^[1] Also spelled adlūdō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- (“to, towards”) + lūdō (“to play”).^[2][1] De Vaan lists it among the compounds of the simple verb, beside allūdiō (“to play with”), found from Plautus on;^[4] he traces lūdō to Proto-Italic *loid-e/o- (“to play”) and Proto-Indo-European *loid- (“to let go frequently, play”), and points to the archaic inscriptional spellings ⟨loed-⟩ and ⟨loid-⟩ of the noun lūdus (“play, game”).^[4]

Cognate with Lithuanian léisti (“to let”) and Middle Irish laídid (“impels”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the OLD record it first in Terence,^[4][2] where a speaker tells how someone began to joke about his mistress and make fun of him (coepit ad id adludere et me inridere).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It means to play or frolic beside or around something: Ovid uses it of a bull frolicking in the grass, Pliny the Elder of a dolphin frolicking as it meets ships, and Martial of bears.^[2] Of water it means to play or lap against, as the waves do on the rocks where a plant grows.^[2][5] Catullus has it with an accusative, of the waves playing with things fallen at someone's feet.^[2] With ad or a dative it means to make a playful or mocking allusion: Valerius Maximus says that Phidias alluded to verses of Homer in an excellent saying, and Quintilian of Cicero alluding playfully to Trebatius.^[2][5] Cicero also uses it absolutely, of Galba bringing in many comparisons in a jesting way.^[2][3] Seneca uses it once of things near at hand that humour our hopes.^[2]

In medieval Latin it is used of animals and children playing and fondling, of friendly or playful speech and of singing, and figuratively of alluding to a name or hinting at something.^[6] Bede has it of a pun on the name Aelli (alleluia).^[6] English took the verb over in the 16th century, first in the sense “to mock”.^[7]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of joking about something.^[2][4][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of jesting speech.^[2][8]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of waves playing at someone's feet.^[2][8]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a dolphin and of waves.^[2][8]
• early 8th century – Bede uses it of a pun on a name.^[6][8]
• 1530s – English borrows it as allude.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To play or frolic beside or around.^[2][5]
2. (of water) To play or lap against.^[2][5]
3. (transitive) To play or sport with.^[2]
4. (with ad or the dative) To make a playful or mocking allusion to;^[2][3][5] (absolute) to jest.^[2][3][5]
5. To play up to, humour.^[2]
6. (Medieval Latin) To fondle, caress; to speak playfully; to hint at.^[6]

Word family

• allūsiō

Related words

• lūdō
• lūdus
• illūdō
• ēlūdō
• dēlūdō
• English allude

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de