eloquentia

Forms

ēloquentia f (genitive ēloquentiae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ēloquēns (“eloquent”) + -ia, the present participle of ēloquor (“to speak out”), from ex- (“out”) and loquor (“to speak”).^[2][3][4] De Vaan traces loquor to Proto-Italic *(t)lokʷ-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *tlokʷ- (“to talk”), cognate with Old Irish ad·tluchedar (“gives thanks”) and Russian толк (tolk, “meaning”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Terence,^[5][6] who has sūdābis … sī cum illō inceptās homine: ea ēloquentiast, “you'll sweat if you take on that man: such is his eloquence”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Ēloquentia is the ability to put one's thoughts into words (Cicero: better to speak fully than to think acutely without it), and the fluent, apt and effective speech of the orator, “eloquence”.^[2][3][1] It is also eloquence as a profession, “rhetoric” (Petronius: ēloquentiae magister).^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “eloquence, oratory”.^[7] Medieval Latin also uses it for the power of speech, a language, and a manner of speaking.^[8] English eloquence comes from it through Old French in the late 14th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence: ea ēloquentiast.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero on eloquence and thought.^[2][6]
• before 66 AD – Petronius: ēloquentiae magister.^[2][6]
• late 14th century – English eloquence.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The ability to express oneself, articulateness.^[2]
2. eloquence.^[2][3][1][7]
3. Eloquence as a profession, rhetoric, oratory.^[2][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) The power of speech; a language; a manner of speaking.^[8]

Related words

• ēloquor
• ēloquēns
• loquor
• English eloquence

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill