inclamo

Forms

inclāmō (present infinitive inclāmāre, perfect active inclāmāvī, supine inclāmātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + clāmō (“to shout”).^[2][3][1] clāmō goes back to Proto-Italic *klām-o/ā- (“shout, shouting”) and Proto-Indo-European *klh₁-m(o)-.^[4] The TLL quotes Festus' epitome to the effect that ⟨in-⟩ was often used to strengthen a word.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,^[2][5][6] who uses it of calling out to someone (ibi mē inclāmat Alcumēna, “then Alcumena calls out to me”) and, in a bad sense, of shouting at a person.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In Cicero it means to call on someone for help: a man calls his companion once and again,^[5] and Cicero tells Atticus to be ready to come flying if he cries out (sī inclāmārō).^[2][7] Livy has a man call Fulvius by name,^[5] and Caelius writes that people tried to wake Antony by shouting his name.^[2] Pliny the Elder tells of a dolphin called by a boy,^[8][7] and Gellius of someone calling on the faith of gods and men.^[5]

In Propertius the dead Cynthia complains that no one called aloud over her eyes as she died.^[2][9] It was also used of calling for something urgently, as for weapons in war or water in a fire.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of calling out to someone and of abusing a person.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of calling for help.^[2][5][6]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of calling aloud over the dying.^[2][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of calling someone by name.^[5][6]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of calling on gods and men.^[5][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To call out to (a person); to call upon, invoke (a name, help).^[2][8][5]
2. To call for, demand.^[2]
3. (intransitive) To shout out, cry aloud.^[2][7]
4. To shout at, abuse, scold.^[2][7]
5. To cry aloud over (the dying).^[2]

Word family

• inclamatio
• inclāmitō

Related words

• clāmō
• exclāmō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b 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 e f g h Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn