Etymologically

garrulitas

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Forms

garrulitās f (genitive garrulitātis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin garrulus (“talkative”) + -tās, from garriō “to chatter”.[2][1][3] De Vaan reconstructs ⟨garriō⟩ as perhaps Proto-Italic ⟨*gārje/o-⟩, Proto-Indo-European *ǵ(e)h₂r-ye/o- (“to shout”), cognate with Old Irish gairid (“calls”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is Ovid, and Gaffiot cites his Metamorphoses for the chattering of magpies.[5][6] Köbler dates Ovid 43 BC–18 AD.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant chattering, babbling, talkativeness, loquacity, of birds such as the magpie in Ovid and the crow in Pliny, and of people, and Lewis & Short note that it is not found in Cicero.[2][7][6]

Medieval Latin used it for insolent language, and British Medieval Latin for foolish chatter and merriment.[8][9]

Timeline

  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of magpies.[6][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny uses it of crows.[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Chatter, garrulity, loquacity.[2][7]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Insolent language.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press