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blanditia

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word blanditia

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus

Forms

blanditia f (genitive blanditiae); first declension[1] A fifth-declension form blanditiēs also occurs.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from blandus (“flattering, charming”) with -itia.[2][3][4][5] De Vaan calls the adjective of uncertain origin: the link with mollis (“soft”) is phonetically impossible, while a link with Ancient Greek μαλακός (malakós, “soft”) and Old Irish mláith (“soft”) led Schrijver to a preform ⟨*mlh₂-d-no-⟩;[6] Ernout and Meillet, as he reports, suggest “with a flattering voice” and a link with balbus (“stammering”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has “your flattery is pure birdlime” in the Bacchides;[2] Köbler also gives Plautus.[5]

Semantic evolution

Mostly in the plural, it is ingratiating behaviour or speech, flattery and caresses, as in Plautus, and of animals, as Ovid's cooing doves;[2] Ovid also makes the Blandishments the companions of Cupid.[2] Of things it is charm or allurement, as Cicero's men corrupted by the charms of pleasure.[2][3][1]

Lewis and Short note it is mostly in a good sense, unlike assentātiō and adūlātiō.[3] Church Latin glosses it “flattery”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of flattery as birdlime.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the charms of pleasure.[2][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of doves and of Cupid's companions.[2][5]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius has the form blanditiēs.[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (often plural) Flattery, blandishment, caresses.[2][3][1][7]
  2. Charm, allurement.[2][3][1]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Blanditia.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/blanditia. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·