iaculor

Forms

iaculor (present infinitive iaculārī or iaculārier, perfect active iaculātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^[1] The old infinitive iaculārier occurs in Arnobius.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a denominative verb from Latin iaculum (“javelin”),^[4][3] itself from iaciō (“to throw”).^[1][5] The verb iaciō goes back to Proto-Italic *jak-i- (“to throw”) and to a root Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- (“to throw, let go”).^[5] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἵημι (híēmi, “to send, throw”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Lucretius,^[5] who has it of the atoms that the universe hurls together and of the films that things shoot off.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Intransitively it is to throw the javelin, as in Cicero's list of riding, javelin-throwing and every kind of military work, and figuratively to snipe at someone with abuse, as in Livy.^[4] Transitively it is to strike with a missile, as Horace's Jupiter who strikes the sacred citadels with his right hand, and to throw or hurl anything, also to send out light.^[4][2] Manilius and Lucan use it reflexively, of leaping, and Lucretius and Quintilian of words thrown out quickly.^[4]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of hurling and of emitting films and words.^[4][5][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of javelin practice.^[4][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of Jupiter striking the citadels.^[4][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of hurling abuse.^[4][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To throw the javelin; figuratively, to snipe at with words.^[4][2][1]
2. To strike with a missile.^[4]
3. To throw, hurl, shoot; to send out light.^[4][2][1]
4. To throw oneself, leap.^[4]
5. To utter rapidly, ejaculate.^[4]

Word family

• ēiaculor
• iaculāmentum

Related words

• iaciō
• iaculum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de