eiaculor

Forms

ēiaculor (present infinitive ēiaculārī or ēiaculārier, perfect active ēiaculātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ex- + iaculor, from the prefix ex- (“out”) and iaculor (“to throw, hurl”),^[2][3][4] which comes from iaculum (“javelin, dart”), from iaciō (“to throw”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first user is Ovid (43 BC–18 AD), in the Metamorphoses, where something shoots out long jets of water (longas eiaculatur aquas).^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

It meant to shoot or hurl out with force: of water, of blood spurting high, and, in Pliny the Elder, of a shadow cast into a forum.^[6][7] L&S calls it rare and not found before Augustus.^[6] Scribonius Largus has it with passive force, and Aulus Gellius uses the active form eiaculaverat.^[2][3]

Medieval writers kept the sense “to hurl, fling”,^[9] also of thunderbolts and weapons in Polish texts of the 16th century.^[10] English made ejaculate from its past participle in the 1570s, first for emitting semen.^[5]

Timeline

• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of water and blood shooting out.^[6][11]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a shadow cast into a forum.^[6][11]
• c. 47 AD – Scribonius Largus has it with passive meaning.^[2][11]
• c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius uses the active form eiaculaverat.^[2][11]
• 1521 – A Polish record uses it.^[10]
• 1570s – English forms ejaculate from its participle.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To shoot out, discharge; to hurl or throw out with force.^[2][6][12]

Word family

• ēiaculātiō

Related words

• English ejaculate

Usage notes

The active form eiaculo is also found,^[3][4] in Aulus Gellius and in a doubtful poem of the Latin Anthology.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
11. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
12. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.