fulguro

Forms

fulgurō (present infinitive fulgurāre, perfect active fulgurāvī, supine fulgurātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin fulgur + -ō, a verb made from the noun for a flash of lightning.^[2][3][1] The TLL compares the older verb fulguriō (“to send lightning”).^[3]

De Vaan explains fulgur as a zero-grade neuter in *-os, formed early from the verb fulgō (“to flash”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *folg-e/o- (“to shine”) and Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥g-e/o- (“to shine”).^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek φλέγω (phlégō, “to burn”) and φλόξ (phlóx, “flame”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Cicero (81–43 BC),^[3][5] who quotes from the augurs' records the rule that it is forbidden to hold an assembly of the people Iove tonante fulgurante, “when Jupiter thunders and lightens”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The verb is mostly impersonal, fulgurat “it lightens”, as in the natural science of Seneca and Pliny the Elder; it is also used of Jupiter or the sky as subject.^[2][3] Pliny the Elder applies it figuratively to the flash of eloquence.^[2]

Statius and later poets use it more generally for anything that shines or gleams,^[2] and Ecclesiastical Latin kept the senses “flash forth, shine, glitter”.^[6] The Vulgate has God making it lighten with his light from above in the Book of Job.^[3]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero quotes the augural rule against holding assemblies when Jupiter thunders and lightens.^[3][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca asks in his Natural Questions why it sometimes lightens without thundering.^[2][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of lightning at night and, figuratively, of eloquence.^[2][7][5]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it in the general sense “to gleam”.^[2][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of God in the Book of Job.^[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (impersonal) To lighten; there is lightning; also of Jupiter or the sky as subject.^[2][7]
2. (figurative) To flash like lightning, of eloquence.^[2]
3. To shine, glitter, gleam.^[2][6][1]

Word family

• defulguro
• diffulguro
• effulgurō
• fulgurātiō
• fulgurātor
• fulguratura
• praefulgurō

Usage notes

It is less frequent than fulgeō, and manuscripts often waver between the two verbs.^[7] Older spellings with fulgor- and fulger- are found in manuscripts and glosses.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b 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 e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press