applaudo

Forms

applaudō (present infinitive applaudere, perfect active applausī, supine applausum); third conjugation^[1] It is also spelled adplaudō, and in post-classical Latin applōdō, with the ⟨o⟩ of plaudō.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + plaudō (“to clap, strike”).^[2][4][1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus ends the Bacchides with the actors bidding the audience farewell and asking them to applaud loudly, clārē applaudere.^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to clap the hands in approval, as at the end of a comedy;^[2][4] in the Persa a character says agite applaudāmus, “come, let us clap”.^[4] It also means to strike one thing against another: Ovid has a body slapped with hollow palms, and Tibullus uses it in a line on weaving at the loom,^[3][2] and later authors use it of dashing something to the ground.^[3][7]

Medieval writers widened it: Hildegard of Bingen uses it of a peacock fawning on its young, and it came to mean to acclaim or cheer, to assent with applause, as at a royal election, to favour, and with sibi to boast.^[8] In music it was used of notes sounding together.^[8] English applaud comes from it, from the late 15th century.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of clapping at the end of a comedy.^[2][4][6]
• c. 55–19/18 BC – Tibullus uses it in the sense “strike”.^[3][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of striking a body with the palms.^[2][6]
• 1012–1018 – Thietmar of Merseburg uses it of crowds cheering.^[8][6]
• 2nd half of the 12th century – Hildegard of Bingen uses it of an animal's fawning gestures.^[8][6]
• late 15th century – English borrows it as applaud.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To strike, slap (one thing against another); to dash (to the ground).^[2][3]
2. To clap the hands, applaud.^[2][4]
3. (Medieval Latin) To acclaim, cheer; to assent with applause; to favour.^[8]
4. (Medieval Latin) To fawn (with gestures).^[8]
5. (Medieval Latin, music) To sound together, harmonize.^[8]

Word family

• applausor
• applausus

Related words

• plausus
• English applaud

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften