caleo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈka.ɫe.oː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkaː.le.o]^[1]

Forms

caleō (present infinitive calēre, perfect active caluī, future active participle calitūrus); second conjugation, no passive, no supine stem except in the future active participle^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kalē-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ḱl̥h₁-eh₁- (“to be hot”), a stative verb.^[2] Cognate with Welsh clyd (“warm”) and Lithuanian šil̃tas (“warm”).^[2][3][4] Lewis & Short thought the origin doubtful.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus says the water is hot.^[6][2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[7]

Semantic evolution

It was to be hot or warm, and Cicero says that all living and growing things are warm.^[6] It was used of a body warm with exertion or with life, of fever, and of being fired with love, hope, zeal or anger.^[6] Döderlein says that calidus is moderate warmth, while fervidus is a high degree of heat.^[8]

In medieval Latin it was to be or grow warm, and figuratively to live or be moved.^[9] Old French chaloir “to matter” comes from it, and its negative gave English nonchalant.^[1][10] English calorie comes from calor.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[6][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the warmth of living things.^[6][7]
• 1734 – English nonchalant is recorded, from French nonchaloir “not to care”.^[10]
• 1866 – English calorie is recorded, from calor.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be warm or hot; to glow.^[6][1]
2. To be warm (with exertion or with life).^[6]
3. To be feverish.^[6]
4. To be fired (with love, hope, zeal or anger).^[6]

Word family

• calefaciō
• calefio
• calēscō
• calidus
• calor
• concaleō
• recaleō

Related words

• caldāmentum
• caldāria
• caldāriola
• caldārium
• caldārius
• caldor
• calefactābilis
• calefactiō
• calefactō
• calefactōrius
• English calorie
• English nonchalant

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
9. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com