gurgulio

Forms

gurguliō m (genitive gurguliōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is related to gurges (“whirlpool”); de Vaan suggests that both may be reduplicated forms of the root meaning “to devour”, but finds the formation unclear.^[2][3] The suffix is found otherwise only in curculiō (“weevil”).^[2] Wiktionary and Köbler derive it from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerh₃- (“to swallow”).^[1][4][5] Lewis & Short connect it with glūtiō (“to swallow”) and gula (“throat”),^[6] and Döderlein took it for a reduplication of the latter.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,^[2][4] in the Trinummus, where a man is said to have a gullet that keeps him busy, which Georges takes as a reference to drink.^[8][3]

Semantic evolution

It names the gullet or throat, and the windpipe.^[3][6] Varro uses it of a goat's neck,^[6][8] a fragment of Cicero speaks of men whose throats were cut,^[8][6] and Lactantius, Arnobius and Ammianus Marcellinus still use it.^[6][8] Döderlein counts it among the words for the part of the body that encloses the throat, used mostly of animals.^[7]

Conte compares the Italian verb gorgogliare “to gurgle”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the gullet in the Trinummus.^[3][8][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it in his work on farming, of a goat.^[6][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of cut throats in a fragment of a speech.^[8][9]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius uses it.^[6]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus writes of a cut throat.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The gullet, throat.^[3][6]
2. The windpipe.^[6][8]

Related words

• gurges
• vorō

Usage notes

A second gurguliō is a by-form of curculiō “weevil”, found as a variant reading in Cato, Varro and Columella.^[3][8][10]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
10. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.