Etymologically
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elocutio

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Forms

ēlocūtiō f (genitive ēlocūtiōnis); third declension[1] Manuscripts often spell it ēloquūtiō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ēloquor (“to speak out”) + -tiō.[4][1] The verb is made from ex- and loquor (“to speak”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is the Rhetorica ad Herennium, which defines it as the fitting of suitable words and sentences to the matter the orator has found.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It was the rhetoricians' word for style, the third of the orator's tasks after invention and arrangement, the Greek lexis or phrasis:[2][7] Quintilian writes quam Graecī φράσιν vocant, Latīnē dīcimus ēlocūtiōnem “what the Greeks call phrasis we call in Latin ēlocūtiō”.[2] Cicero has it six times in On Invention, and grammarians and rhetoricians used it constantly, other writers rarely.[2] Martianus Capella distinguishes it from ēloquentia: eloquence is the excellence of the whole speech, style is one part of the orator's work.[2] The lawyers also used it of a plain utterance or statement.[7]

Alcuin repeats the old definition,[8] and Medieval Latin kept it for style and manner of expression, and also used it of a speech and of a language, as in a charter of 1276 that names workers in the vulgar tongue.[3][8][9] English elocution, first “oratorical or literary style”, comes from it in the mid-15th century.[5]

Timeline

  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium defines it as a part of rhetoric.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it six times in On Invention.[2][7][6]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian equates it with Greek phrasis.[2][7][6]
  • 5th century AD – Martianus Capella distinguishes it from eloquence.[2][6]
  • 1276 – A charter of Salzburg uses it of the vernacular language.[3]
  • mid-15th century – English borrows elocution.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (rhetoric) The expression of ideas in words; style, diction.[4][7][2]
  2. An utterance, a statement.[7][1]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A speech; language, manner of speaking.[9][3][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c 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
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill