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clamito

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word clamito

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*klh₁-m(o)-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkɫaː.mɪ.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈklaː.mi.to][1]

Forms

clāmitō (present infinitive clāmitāre, perfect active clāmitāvī, supine clāmitātum); first conjugation[1] Varro has a present participle plural clāmitantis.[2]

Etymology

It is the frequentative of clāmō (“to shout”), formed with -itō.[3][2][4] De Vaan takes ⟨clāmō⟩ as a verb made from a lost noun for “shout”, from Proto-Italic *klām-o/ā- and Proto-Indo-European *klh₁-m(o)-, the root of calō (“to call out”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has “not what boys shout that they found in a bean” in the Aulularia;[3] the TLL finds it from Plautus on.[4]

Semantic evolution

It is to shout repeatedly or clamour, as Terence's “why are you shouting?”, with direct speech, with a clause, and with an object, as Cicero's “Naevius always shouts this”.[3][2] It is to call someone loudly by name, as Petronius' Encolpius, and to invoke the gods over and over, as in Apuleius.[3] Of things it is to proclaim plainly, as Cicero's shaven head and eyebrows that seem to cry out cunning.[3][2]

Lewis and Short find it mostly from the Augustan period on.[2] Church Latin glosses it “shout loudly”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of boys shouting.[3][7]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of shouting.[3][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a face that proclaims cunning.[3][7]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius of calling a name.[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To shout repeatedly, clamour, bawl.[3][2][1][6]
  2. To call (a name) loudly; to invoke repeatedly.[3]
  3. (of things) To proclaim plainly.[3][2]

Word family

  • clāmitātiō
  • conclāmitō
  • dēclāmitō
  • inclāmitō
  • occlāmitō
  • reclāmitō

References

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

“Clamito.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/clamito. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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