Etymologically
Log in

detono

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word detono

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
70–19 BC Virgil, Aeneid More words from the 1st century BC
Ultimate origin
Latin tonō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin tonō
Latin dētonō
From the same root
Latin attonitus ← tonō
Latin attonō ← tonō
Latin intonō ← tonō
Latin tonitrus ← tonō

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈdeː.tɔ.noː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈdɛː.to.no][1]

Forms

dētonō (present infinitive dētonāre, perfect active dētonuī, supine dētonitum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin dē- + tonō (“to thunder”).[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Virgil and Ovid.[3] In the Aeneid Aeneas holds out against a storm of war dum detonet omnis (“until it has thundered itself out”), with the sense “stop thundering, spend its fury”.[3]

Semantic evolution

Ovid uses it of Jupiter thundering,[2][4] and the OLD defines the general sense as spending one's thunder, mostly in figurative phrases.[2] Statius made it transitive, “roar out” words or themes,[2] and Lewis and Short call the figurative “storm, rage” frequent in Florus.[4]

Romanian detuna and Aromanian ditun continue the verb, while French détoner, Spanish detonar and Italian detonare are later borrowings.[1] English detonate (1729) is a back-formation from detonation or comes from the Latin participle.[5]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a storm of war that thunders itself out.[3][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of Jupiter thundering.[2][4][6]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius uses it.[3][6]
  • c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it transitively, “roar out”.[2][6]
  • c. 120 AD – Florus uses it often of storming at enemies.[4][6]
  • 1729 – English has detonate, from the Latin participle or from detonation.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To thunder (down); to finish thundering, spend one's fury (often figurative).[2][4][1]
  2. (transitive) To roar out (words) in a thunderous voice.[2]
  3. (figurative) To storm, rage (against someone).[4]

References

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

“Detono.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/detono. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·