Etymologically
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clamor

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈkɫaː.mɔr][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈklaː.mor][1]

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]

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