Etymologically
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elatus

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Forms

ēlātus (feminine ēlāta, neuter ēlātum, comparative ēlātior); first/second-declension participle[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the perfect participle from Latin efferō1 (“to carry out, raise”).[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citations are Varro, of cocks that hold their heads high, and Cicero, of a great and lofty mind that looks down on human affairs.[1] Köbler dates it only from Quintilian.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means raised, high or situated on high ground:[1] Pliny the Elder has convex mirrors and the right kidney that lies higher, and Columella furrows driven now over higher, now over lower ground.[1] Of a person or feelings it is lofty and exalted, and of style elevated or grand:[1] Cicero speaks of openings not yet fired with elevated words, and Pliny the Younger of things high and lofty.[1] In Late and Church Latin it often means proud or puffed up: Ammianus Marcellinus has someone elated by unexpected success, and Jerome and the Theodosian Code use it too.[4][5]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro of cocks holding their heads high.[1]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a lofty mind and elevated words.[1]
  • 1st century AD – Columella of higher ground.[1]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian.[1][3]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus of being elated by success.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Raised, high; situated on high ground.[1][2]
  2. Holding the head high, proudly erect.[1]
  3. Lofty, exalted;[1][2] (of style) elevated, grand.[1][2]
  4. (Late and Ecclesiastical Latin) Proud, puffed up.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson