clamor

Forms

clāmor m (genitive clāmōris); third declension^[1] The old nominative clāmōs is found in Ennius and Lucretius, and Quintilian mentions it.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin clāmō + -or, from the verb “to shout”.^[2][3][5][1] De Vaan thinks clāmō was itself made from a noun ⟨*klāmā-⟩ or ⟨*klāmo-⟩ “shout”, later replaced by ⟨clāmor⟩, and reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *klh₁-m(o)-.^[4] The root is *kelh₁- (“to call, shout”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[4] who has anum sectātus sum clāmōre per viās, “I chased the old woman through the streets with shouting”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Clāmor is a shout or shouting, a shout of joy or applause, a cry of protest, and the battle cry of soldiers attacking.^[2][3][1] It is also used of the noise of animals and birds and, in poetry, of the roar of thunder, cliffs and the sea.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “a shout, cry, clamour”.^[7] In Medieval Latin it is a complaint, a lawsuit, a debt in dispute and a fine.^[8] English clamor (late 14th century) came through Old French.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: quid istīc clāmōrem tollis?, “why are you raising a shout there?”^[2][6]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius: tollitur in caelum clāmor exortus utrīsque, “a shout rises to the sky from both sides”.^[2][6]
• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius: clāmor tonitruum, “the roar of thunder”.^[2][6]
• late 14th century – English clamor.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shout, shouting, cry.^[2][3][1][7]
2. A shout of joy; applause.^[2][1]
3. An outcry, protest.^[1]
4. A battle cry.^[2]
5. Noise (of animals); roar (of thunder or the sea).^[2][1]
6. (Medieval Latin) A complaint; a lawsuit.^[8]

Related words

• clāmātor
• clāmitō
• clāmō
• clāmōsus
• exclāmō
• English clamor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com