enuntio

Forms

ēnūntiō (present infinitive ēnūntiāre, perfect active ēnūntiāvī, supine ēnūntiātum); first conjugation^[1] It is also spelled ēnunciō.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + nūntiō (“to announce”).^[3][4] De Vaan finds the origin of nūntius (“messenger”) unclear: it has been connected with a root Proto-Indo-European *neuH- (“to cry”) or with novus, but the second does not work morphologically.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[5] in whose Trinummus a man was entrusted with a secret on condition that he disclose it to no one.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is first to make known what should be kept secret, divulge: Cicero has the mysteries, Caesar a plan betrayed to the Helvetii by an informer, Sallust a plot revealed to Cicero through Fulvia.^[6][3] It is also to express an idea in words: Cicero says the same thing is said more elegantly with a word used figuratively.^[3] In logic it is to assert a proposition, and Cicero calls it the foundation of dialectic that whatever is asserted is either true or false.^[3] It is also to utter or pronounce words.^[3] Döderlein notes that, unlike eloquor, it looks only to the substance of what is said, not its form.^[7] English enunciate dates from the 1620s, first meaning to declare.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of disclosing a secret.^[3][5][9]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of a betrayed plan.^[6][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of expressing an idea and of asserting a proposition.^[3][9]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius of a proclamation of Jupiter.^[3][9]
• 1620s – English enunciate.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make known, disclose, divulge.^{[3][2][1][10]}
2. To express in words;^[3][1][10] (logic) to assert (a proposition); to proclaim.^[3][1][10]
3. To utter, pronounce.^[3]

Word family

• ēnūntiātiō
• ēnuntiātīuus
• ēnuntiātrix
• ēnuntiātum
• ēnūntiābilis
• ēnūntiātor

Related words

• nūntiō
• English enunciate

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson