exaudio

Forms

exaudiō (present infinitive exaudīre, perfect active exaudīvī or exaudiī, supine exaudītum); fourth conjugation^[1] Plautus has the old imperfect exaudibam.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from ex- and audiō (“to hear”).^[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨audiō⟩ to Proto-Italic *awizdje/o- (“to hear”), probably a compound of Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewis (“clearly, manifestly”) and the root *dʰeh₁- (“to put, make”), “to make manifest”; cognate with Sanskrit आविस् (āvís, “evidently”) and Ancient Greek ἀΐω (aḯō, “to perceive, hear”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example is Plautus' Mercator: “what she is saying I can't make out from here”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is first to catch something with the ear, to hear clearly, as Plautus' “I couldn't quite hear, but I wasn't mistaken about the talk”.^[2][5] It is also to listen or attend to, as Cicero's “we do not listen to ourselves”, and in Seneca to understand something in a certain way.^[2] Then it is to heed advice, as Horace's “adviser not listened to”, and to hear a prayer favourably, as Virgil's “vows heard by none of the gods”.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “hear favourably, hear graciously, hearken to, answer”.^[6][1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of hearing clearly.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of listening.^[2][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of prayers heard by the gods.^[2][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of heeding advice.^[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hear clearly, catch (a sound), make out.^[2][1][5]
2. To listen or attend to; to understand (in a given way).^[2][1]
3. To heed, comply with.^[2][1]
4. To hear (a prayer) favourably, grant, (Ecclesiastical Latin) to hearken to, answer.^[2][1][6]

Word family

• exaudībilis
• exaudītiō
• exaudītor
• exaudiēns

Related words

• audiō
• inaudiō
• indaudiō
• obaudiō
• subaudiō
• oboediō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson