exaggeratio

Forms

exaggerātiō f (genitive exaggerātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin exaggerō + -tiō.^[2][1][3] The verb is formed from ex- and aggerō² (“to heap up”),^[2][1] itself made from agger (“a mound, heap”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it figuratively in the Tusculan Disputations, of a lofty elevation of the mind: quasi quandam exaggerationem quam altissimam animi, “a kind of loftiest exaltation of the spirit”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In rhetoric it was the heaping up of words or effects, an intensification by repetition;^[2][4][5] Gellius uses it so.^[2][4][5] The rhetorician Sulpicius Victor defines it as the device used in accusations to magnify the odium of the deed complained of.^[6] In Late Latin it is also a literal heap: Justin has it in the plural for mounds (other manuscripts read aggerationes),^[4] Augustine speaks of a heaping up of calamities,^[7] and Ammianus of an accumulation of praise.^[8]

Medieval Latin used it for an accumulation, for example of earth in ramparts, and by extension for abundance and for increase.^[9] In British sources it is the rhetorical heaping up,^[10] and Niermeyer gives the sense “exaggeration”.^[11] English borrowed it in the 1560s as exaggeration, meaning unreasonable amplification.^[12]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of an exaltation of the mind.^[4][13]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of rhetorical amplification.^[4][5]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine writes of a heaping up of calamities.^[7]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus writes of an accumulation of praise.^[8]
• 1560s – English borrows it as exaggeration.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (figurative) Elevation, exaltation (of the mind).^[2][4]
2. (rhetoric) Intensification by repetition; a piling up of words or effects, amplification.^[2][4][5]
3. (Late Latin) A heaping up, accumulation; in the plural, mounds.^[4][7][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) Abundance; increase.^[9]
5. (Medieval Latin) Exaggeration.^[11]

Usage notes

VOLI warns that the Latin word does not mean what Italian esagerazione means and should not be translated by it.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de