Etymologically
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exclaro

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Forms

exclārō, exclārāre[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ex- + clārō (“to make bright”).[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Vitruvius, who says that the northern region of the sky is neither brightened nor darkened by the course of the sun.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The medical writer Placitus says that an ointment of bull's gall brightens the eyes.[2] A medieval medical glossary uses it for clearing the voice.[4] The TLL, following Meyer-Lübke, gives Italian schiarare as its descendant.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of the brightening of the sky.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make bright, illuminate, light up.[1][3]
  2. (Medieval Latin) To make clear (the voice).[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de