elinguis

Forms

ēlinguis (neuter ēlingue); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + lingua (“tongue”) + -is, “without a tongue”.^[2][1][3] lingua goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dnǵh-uh2 (“tongue”), with its /l/ taken from lingō (“to lick”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first use is in a tragedy of Pacuvius, “either stupid or speechless”,^[2][4][5] where it means unable to speak.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The common sense was “speechless”, of someone who cannot or dare not speak, often joined with mūtus: Cicero speaks of reducing someone to silence, and Livy and Gellius pair it with mūtus.^[6][7][8] Cicero also uses it of a speaker without eloquence, saying that Fannius was never thought tongue-tied in that sense.^[2][7] The literal “tongueless” is late, in Apuleius of the crocodile, Ausonius and Cassiodorus.^[2][8][6] The TLL notes a variant ēlinguus of the second declension.^[3]

Medieval writers used it for the dumb or speechless, as in Peter Damian of a paralysed bishop.^[9][10] Old English glosses render it as “speechless, dumb”.^[10]

Timeline

• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it of a person unable to speak.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a speechless witness and of a speaker without eloquence.^[7][5]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius calls the crocodile tongueless.^[2][5]
• c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius uses it in its literal sense.^[8][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having no tongue, tongueless.^[2][8]
2. Speechless, unable to speak (especially from fear or embarrassment); mute.^[2][6]
3. Lacking eloquence, inarticulate.^[2][7]

Word family

• ēlinguō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b 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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b 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