elanguesco

Forms

ēlanguēscō (present infinitive ēlanguēscere, perfect active ēlangŭī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1] Valerius Flaccus scans the perfect elangŭit with a short ⟨u⟩.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ē- + languēscō (“to grow weak”).^[2][3][1] The base is the inchoative of langueō (“to be faint”),^[4] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *(s)lā̆ng-u-, an adjective meaning “faint, weak”, a nasalised variant of the root of laxus (“loose”).^[4] His Indo-European reconstruction, Proto-Indo-European *sl-n-ǵ-u- (“weak, faint”), carries a question mark.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's earliest instance is a fragment of Varro, quoted by Nonius, in which the common good of a state grows weak through the discord of its citizens.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Livy uses it of people who lose their vigour and of an undertaking that slackens through delay: differendo … elanguit res, “by putting it off, the matter lost its force”.^[2][3] Velleius uses it of an enemy's strength, Tacitus of soldiers worn out by expense and idleness, and Celsus of the pulse.^[2][3] Florus and the De viris illustribus say that Hannibal grew slack.^[3]

In the Vulgate all the inhabitants of the land “grow faint”, and Gregory the Great uses it of the prophet Daniel's illness.^[3] Ecclesiastical Latin keeps the sense “grow weak or faint”.^[5]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro, in a fragment, uses it of the common good of a state.^[3][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of people and of an undertaking slackening through delay.^[2][3][6]
• c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius uses it of an enemy's strength.^[3][6]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of the pulse.^[2][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of soldiers grown slack.^[3][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of a people losing heart.^[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To grow faint or feeble, lose vigour, flag.^[2][7][5]
2. (of feelings and activities) To become less intense, slacken.^[2][7]

Related words

• langueō
• languor
• languidus

Usage notes

Lewis and Short call the word post-Augustan,^[7] but the TLL cites a fragment of Varro.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 f g h i j k l m Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press