Etymologically
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eiulo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɛj.jʊ.ɫoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɛː.ju.lo][1]

Forms

eiulō (present infinitive eiulāre, perfect active eiulāvī, supine eiulātum); first conjugation[1] It is also spelled hēiulō.[2][3] Priscian has a deponent heiulor.[4]

Etymology

It is formed from the interjection ei “ah!”, with the suffix shaped after iūbilō (“to shout for joy”).[2][5][1] Lewis & Short derive it from the exclamations hei and heu,[4] and the grammarian Cassiodorus explains the spelling with ⟨h⟩ in the same way.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus, who uses it several times in the Aulularia for wailing aloud.[4][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it meant to utter cries of anguish, to shriek or wail;[2][4] Cicero and Gellius use it,[4] and so does the Vulgate.[4] From Apuleius on it is also transitive, to bewail something, as in “fortunas meas eiulabam” (“I bewailed my fortunes”).[2][4] Medieval Latin kept the senses of lamenting and howling.[3][7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the Aulularia and the Mercator.[4][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in the Tusculan Disputations.[4][6]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it transitively, “to bewail”.[2][6]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in the Book of Job.[4][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive) To wail, shriek, cry out in anguish.[2][4]
  2. (transitive) To bewail, lament.[2][4]
  3. (Medieval Latin) To howl.[3]

Usage notes

Döderlein ranks lāmentārī and ēiulāre above plōrāre in intensity: lāmentātiō is a long, continuous wailing, while ēiulāre is wailing broken by cries and sobs.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper