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comploro

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word comploro

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Latin (con-,ploro)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin ploro
French pleurer
Latin comploro
Latin imploro
Latin ploratus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔmˈpɫoː.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [komˈplɔː.ro][1]

Forms

complōrō (present infinitive complōrāre, perfect active complōrāvī, supine complōrātum); first conjugation[1] It is also spelled conplōrō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + plōrō (“to wail”).[2][4][1] De Vaan finds no etymology for plōrō;[5] Walde–Hofmann and Ernout–Meillet thought likely the ancient view that explōrō first meant to scout a hunting ground by shouting.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL cites it from Cicero's speech On his House, of a death lamented: morte complorata.[4][6] Lewis & Short, on the other hand, call it rare and not found before the Augustan age.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means to lament, bewail or mourn for a person or an event, often loudly or all together.[2][3] Livy uses it of the dead and the living mourned together after Cannae, and of a state given up as lost and lamented: desperatam complōrātamque rem publicam.[3][4] Ovid has household gods lamented,[3] and the Ciris uses it without an object, of an old nurse wailing.[2]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a death lamented.[4][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of the dead and the living mourned together.[3][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of household gods.[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To lament, bewail, mourn for (a person or event), especially loudly or together.[2][3][1]
  2. Without an object: to wail, lament.[2]

Word family

  • complōrātiō
  • complōrātus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b 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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Comploro.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/comploro. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·