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blatero

Etymology and origin of the Latin word blatero

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Onomatopoeia
First attested
Afranius
Ultimate origin
Latin (blatiō)

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈbɫa.tɛ.roː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈblaː.te.ro][1]

Forms

blaterō (present infinitive blaterāre, perfect active blaterāvī, supine blaterātum); first conjugation, no passive[1]

Etymology

It is onomatopoeic, from an earlier *blat(t)elāre, from blatiō “to babble” with a frequentative suffix.[2][1][3] It is also spelled ⟨blatterō⟩, though the verse of Afranius and Horace does not allow the double ⟨t⟩.[2][3] Paulus' epitome of Festus relates it to Ancient Greek βλάξ (bláx, “stupid”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Afranius, of uttering in a babbling way.[2] Köbler dates Afranius to the second half of the 2nd century BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to utter or say in a prating way, and intransitively to prate, babble, talk idly, as in Horace's Satires, and Lewis and Short call it colloquial and mostly ante- and post-classical.[2][4] Suetonius uses it of the cry of certain animals.[2] Döderlein explains that garrīre refers to fondness for talking, fābulārī to the emptiness of the talk, and blatīre with its intensive blaterāre to its foolishness.[6]

It was borrowed as Italian blaterare and French blatérer.[1] Etymonline suggests that Latin blatīre may have prompted Spenser's coinage English blatant in 1596.[7]

Timeline

  • 2nd century BC – Afranius uses it of babbling.[2][8]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of prating.[2][5]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of animal cries.[2][5]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it, and the noun blaterō “babbler”.[5][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To utter in a babbling way.[2]
  2. To prate, babble.[2][4]
  3. Of animals, to cry.[2]

Word family

  • adblaterō
  • blateratio
  • blateratus
  • dēblaterō

Usage notes

A noun blaterō, -ōnis “babbler” is in Gellius, who lists it with locutuleius and linguāx among old words for chatterers.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
Cite this entry

“Blatero.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/blatero. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

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