blandior

Forms

blandior (present infinitive blandīrī, perfect active blandītus sum); fourth conjugation, deponent^[1] An active form blandiō is also found.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin blandus (“flattering, charming”) + -iō.^[2][3][1] The origin of blandus is uncertain: de Vaan finds the link with mollis (“soft”) phonetically impossible, and reports a comparison with Ancient Greek μαλακός (malakós, “soft”) and Old Irish mláith (“soft”), from which Schrijver posits Proto-Indo-European *ml̥h₂-d-no-.^[4] Ernout and Meillet suggested an original sense “having a flattering voice”, which would bring in balbus (“stammering”) and blatiō (“to babble”).^[4] Etymonline gives the root Proto-Indo-European *mel- (“soft”) as possible.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[4] who says that a prostitute flatters only while she sees something to snatch.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to speak or behave ingratiatingly, to flatter, and to coax someone into something, as in Livy's young Hannibal coaxing his father Hamilcar to take him to Spain.^[2] Seneca uses it of soothing a horse with the hand, and with a reflexive pronoun it is to flatter or delude oneself.^[2] Of dogs and other animals it is to fawn, as Ovid's she-wolf fawning on her nurslings with her tail.^[2] It is also to smile on or favour, to make something seem better than it is, as in Frontinus, and of things to allure or charm, as the elder Seneca's “alluring leisure”.^[2] Church Latin glosses it “coax, caress, flatter”.^[6] English blandish comes from it through Old French, recorded from the mid-14th century.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a flattering prostitute.^[2][4][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of Hannibal coaxing his father.^[2][7]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a fawning she-wolf.^[2][7]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of soothing a horse.^[2][7]
• mid-14th century – English blandish, through Old French.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To flatter, use blandishments; to coax; to soothe.^[2][8][1]
2. With a reflexive pronoun, to flatter or delude oneself.^[2][1]
3. Of animals, to fawn.^[2][8]
4. To favour, smile on.^[2]
5. To represent too favourably, exaggerate.^[2]
6. Of things, to allure, please, charm.^[2]

Word family

• blandīmentum

Related words

• blandus
• blanditia

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press