Etymologically
Log in

inclamo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 00:29. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪŋˈkɫaː.moː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iŋˈklaː.mo][1]

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

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