fleo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈfɫe.oː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈflɛː.o]^[1]

Forms

fleō (present infinitive flēre, perfect active flēvī, supine flētum); second conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *flē(je/o)-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to bleat, cry”).^[2][1] Cognate with Russian блеять (blejatʹ, “to bleat”), and perhaps with Old High German bellan (“to bark”) and Old Norse belja (“to bellow”).^[2][3] The TLL calls it onomatopoeic.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Naevius, whose epitaph says that if immortals might weep for mortals, the Muses would weep for him.^[2][3] Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to weep, cry or lament, as in Plautus “whenever I see the house, I weep”, and as a transitive verb to weep for or bewail someone.^[3] The perfect participle flētus could mean tearful, overcome with weeping.^[3] In poetry, as in Lucretius, it was also said of moisture seeping out.^[6]

Its derivative flēbilis “lamentable” gave Old French feble, the source of English feeble in the late 12th century.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius' epitaph says the Muses would weep for him.^[3][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has a man weep at the sight of a house.^[3][5]
• late 12th century – English feeble is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To weep, cry, lament.^[3]
2. (transitive) To weep for, bewail.^[3]
3. flētus, tearful.^[3]

Word family

• affleō
• dēfleō
• diffleō
• effleō
• flēbilis
• flētus
• īnflētus
• perfletus

Related words

• flēbiliter
• English feeble

Usage notes

Döderlein places flēre between lacrimāre, simply shedding tears from joy or sorrow, and plōrāre, loud wailing.^[8] Seneca writes that one should shed tears for a lost friend, not wail.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper