exclamo

Forms

exclāmō (present infinitive exclāmāre, perfect active exclāmāvī, supine exclāmātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from ex- (“out”) and clāmō (“to shout”).^[2][1] De Vaan takes ⟨clāmō⟩ as a verb made from a noun meaning “shout”, from Proto-Italic *klāmo- and Proto-Indo-European *klh₁-mo-, from the root of calō (“to call out”).^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first examples are from Plautus' Amphitruo, where someone “cries out at the top of his voice: ‘Alcmena, don't be afraid’” and “loudly calls out your wife's name”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is to cry out or exclaim, as Terence's “I nearly cried out for joy”, and in Cicero of runners in the stadium who shout as loud as they can.^[2][5] It is also to say something aloud, with an object or with direct or indirect speech, as Livy's word “shouted out rashly by one man”, and to call someone by name.^[2] Statius uses it of a fire roaring in the leaves.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “cry out, exclaim”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of crying out and calling by name.^[2][4]
• 190–159 BC – Terence of crying out for joy.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of runners shouting.^[5][4]
• 1560s – English exclaim, from exclāmātiō or French exclamer.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cry out, exclaim, shout, (of things) to make a loud noise.^[2][1][6]
2. To say aloud, declaim.^[2]
3. To call out the name of (someone).^[2]

Word family

• exclāmātiō

Related words

• clāmō
• clāmor
• English exclaim

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ 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 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
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com