blatio
Forms
blatiō (present infinitive blatīre); fourth conjugation, no perfect or supine stems[1]
Etymology
It is onomatopoeic.[2][3] De Vaan sees in it the simple form *bl- of the reduplicated balbus “stammering”, with an extension -at-.[4][1] blaterō “to babble” belongs with it.[2][5]
Earliest recorded meaning
De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose character says “what nonsense you babble”.[4][2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[6]
Semantic evolution
Transitively it meant to utter in a babbling way, as Plautus' nūgās blatīs, and intransitively to prate, babble, as in Gellius.[2] Lewis and Short call it ante-classical and late, as in Tertullian.[5] Döderlein says blatīre and blaterāre point to the foolishness of what is said, while garriō points to love of talking.[7]
English blatant, coined by Spenser in 1596, was perhaps suggested by it.[8]
Timeline
- c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of babbling nonsense.[2][6]
- c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it.[5][6]
- 1596 – Spenser coins English blatant, perhaps after it.[8]
Meanings
Verb
Related words
References
- ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
- ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com