exclamatio

Forms

exclāmātiō f (genitive exclāmātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin exclāmō (“to cry out”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3] That verb is a compound of ex- and clāmō (“to shout”), which de Vaan takes as a derivative of a lost noun for a shout, Proto-Italic *klāmo- or *klāmā-, from Proto-Indo-European *kl̥h₁-mo-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first quotation is in the Rhetorica ad Herennium, which warns that acuta exclamatio vocem vulnerat, “a shrill exclamation hurts the voice”.^[2][5] Köbler dates it from Cicero.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it very rare in the general sense of a loud calling out.^[7] The Rhetorica ad Herennium and Cicero also use it of the figure of speech, an exclamation of wonder or of complaint, and so does Quintilian.^[7][5][2] Seneca has gemitus et exclamationes, groans and cries.^[2] Seneca and Tacitus also use it of a pithy saying, as of the saying of the greatest of physicians that life is short and art long.^[2][8] In medieval Britain it is an exclamation or outcry, a rhetorical colour, and in law the hue and cry raised after a thief.^[9][10] English took it over as exclamation in the late 14th century.^[11]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the rhetorical exclamation.^[7][6]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of cries of pain and of a famous saying.^[2][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of pithy sayings in the Dialogus.^[2][6]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as exclamation.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A crying out, an outcry, a loud call.^[2][7][5]
2. (rhetoric) An exclamation as a figure of speech.^[7][5][9]
3. A saying, dictum.^[2][8]
4. (Medieval Latin, law) The hue and cry.^[10][9]

Related words

• exclāmō
• clāmor
• English exclamation

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com