Etymologically
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altisonus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [aɫˈtɪ.sɔ.nʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [alˈtiː.s̬o.nus][1]

Forms

altisonus (feminine altisona, neuter altisonum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin altus (“high”) + sonō (“to sound”) + -us, a poetic compound meaning “sounding on high”.[2] Wiktionary and the TLL take the first part as the adverb altē (“on high”).[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Ennius,[4][3] who speaks of a temple enclosed altisonō cardine, by the high-sounding pole of heaven, and of the altisonum caeli clipeum, the high-sounding shield of the sky.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it very rare and only poetic.[5] It was an epithet of Jupiter who thunders on high, in a poem of Cicero and in Seneca's tragedies.[5][3] Juvenal applied it to a poet, speaking of the songs of “high-sounding” Virgil.[2][6] British medieval writers use it of loud trumpets and voices.[7]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of the heavens.[3][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero calls Jupiter altisonus in a poem.[5][4]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it in his tragedies.[3][4]
  • c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of Virgil.[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Sounding on high or in the heavens; thundering (of Jupiter).[2][5]
  2. Of a poet: sublime.[2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Loud-sounding.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b 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