boo

Forms

boō (present infinitive boāre, perfect active boāvī, supine boātum); first conjugation^[1] Ennius has the form bovō, and Pacuvius and Varro a third-conjugation form boere (bount).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek βοάω (boáō, “to shout”).^[2][5][1] Ancient grammarians already took it from the Greek: Festus, in Paul the Deacon's epitome, says so directly,^[3][4] and Varro and Nonius discuss the word.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Plautus,^[4][3] who in the Amphitruo has the sky resounding with the roar of men in battle: boat caelum fremitu virum.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

It is mostly an early, poetic and late word.^[3] Besides the usual first-conjugation boāre, Ennius has bovantes of animals bellowing, and Pacuvius and Varro a third-conjugation bount, of hills echoing and of a crowd shouting.^[2][3][4] Ovid uses it of the forum ringing with a cry of “Give me back what is mine!”.^[4][3]

Apuleius uses it of people shouting aloud, transitively for calling loudly on the protection of the gods and with direct speech for crying something out.^[2][4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the sky resounding.^[4][3][6]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius has the form bovantes.^[2][3][6]
• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius has the form bount.^[2][3][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of the forum ringing with a cry.^[4][3][6]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it transitively and with direct speech.^[2][4][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To bellow, roar, cry aloud; of places, to resound.^[2][3][4]
2. (transitive) To call loudly upon; to roar out (words).^[2][4]

Word family

• boātus
• reboō
• boātiō

Usage notes

Gaffiot and Georges list the third-conjugation forms as a separate verb, but describe it as a variant of the same word.^[4][7]

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 f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.