fulgor

Forms

fulgor m (genitive fulgōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from fulgeō (“to flash, shine”) with -or.^[2][3][4] De Vaan calls it a recent derivative following the productive pattern, and derives the verb from Proto-Italic *folg-e/o- (“to shine”) and Proto-Indo-European *bʰlg-e/o- (“to shine”).^[5] Cognate with Ancient Greek φλέγω (phlégō, “to burn”) and Ancient Greek φλόξ (phlóx, “flame”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Accius as its first author;^[4] de Vaan dates it from Lucretius, who has “we see the flash before we hear the thunder”.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

It is brightness or radiance, as Cicero's candelabrum whose brilliance should have lit the temple, and of colour, as Virgil's drooping hyacinth that has not yet lost its sheen.^[2][3] It is a flash or flame, and, mostly in poetry for fulgur, a flash of lightning, as in Lucretius and Cicero.^[2][3][1] It is a shining object, in astronomy a meteor, and figuratively splendour or glory, as Livy's “the lustre of the Roman name”.^[2][3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “brightness, lightning, thunderbolt”.^[6]

Timeline

• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius.^[4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the flash before the thunder.^[5][3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a shining candelabrum.^[2][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of the glory of the Roman name.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Brightness, brilliance, radiance; sheen.^[2][3][1][6]
2. A flash, flame;^[2] a flash of lightning.^[2][3][1][6]
3. A shining object;^[2] (astronomy) a meteor.^[2]
4. Splendour, lustre, glory.^[2][3][1]

Related words

• fulgeō
• fulgur
• fulmen
• flagrō
• splendor

References

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