Etymologically
Log in

dolenter

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 13:29. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

dolenter (comparative dolentius, superlative dolentissimē)[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dolēns (“feeling pain, grieving”) + -ter,[2][1] the present participle of doleō (“to feel pain, grieve”).[1] De Vaan traces that verb to Proto-Italic *dolē- (“to pain, cause pain”) and Proto-Indo-European *dolh1-eie- (“to split”), from a root meaning “to chop”: pain was felt as being torn apart.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,[4] who has the comparative dolentius deplorari, “to be lamented more grievously”.[5]

Semantic evolution

It means with sorrow or grief, painfully.[2][6] Cicero also uses it of a style that moves the hearer, in a pathetic manner.[7] Pliny the Younger writes tam dolenter adficeris, “you are so grieved”, at a death,[7][5] and Ammianus Marcellinus of crying out in grief.[5] In medieval Latin from Britain it means grievously, and an English gloss in the Ancrene Riwle renders it “sorrowfully”.[8]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it, also in the comparative.[5][4]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus has dolenter exclāmāre.[5][4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. With sorrow or grief, painfully, sorrowfully.[2][6][5]
  2. In a moving way, with pathos.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ 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