conclamatio

Forms

conclāmātiō f (genitive conclāmātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin conclāmō (“to shout together”) + -tiō.^[2][3] That verb is con- with clāmō (“to shout”),^[1] which de Vaan takes to be made from a lost noun for “shout” and traces to Proto-Italic *klām-o/ā- and Proto-Indo-European *klh₁-m(o)-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Caesar has it first:^[3][5] after a victory, Curio is hailed as imperator by the shout of the whole army.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a rare word, absent from Cicero,^[6] for the shouting or crying of many people together, of joy or of grief: Seneca speaks of the cries of thousands dying under the sword, and Tacitus uses the plural for loud laments.^[3][6] In particular it was the ritual calling of a dead person's name, after which, Servius says, bodies were burned.^[3] The Code of Justinian forbids such shouting, and in late texts it can also imply agreement, a confirmation made as if with one voice.^[3]

Medieval Latin used it for uproar and for acclamation or a declaration made aloud in common,^[7][8] and Niermeyer records the sense “legal complaint”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it for the acclamation of an army.^[3][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it for the cries of the dying.^[3][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses the plural for laments.^[3][6][5]
• c. 400 AD – Servius mentions the last conclāmātiō before cremation.^[3][5]
• 1061 – Köbler records it in a charter.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shouting or crying together, usually in grief; a loud lament.^[2][6]
2. An acclamation.^[2][3]
3. (Medieval Latin) An uproar; a common declaration made aloud.^[7][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) A legal complaint.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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 c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill