Etymologically
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intono

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɪn.tɔ.noː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈin.to.no][1]

Forms

intonō (present infinitive intonāre, perfect active intonuī or intonāvī, supine intonātum); first conjugation[1] Besides intonuī there is a perfect intonāvī in late writers such as Maximus of Turin and Paulinus of Nola.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + tonō (“to thunder”).[4][2] Wiktionary traces tonō to Proto-Italic *tonaō and Proto-Indo-European *(s)tenh₂- (“to thunder”), and Pokorny compares Ancient Greek στένω (sténō, “to groan”).[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the OLD's earliest quotation Cicero's poem on Marius has the Father of the sky thundering on the left.[4][6]

Semantic evolution

It is to thunder, impersonally, of Jupiter and other gods, and of the sky: in Virgil there is a sudden crash of thunder on the left, and the heavens thunder.[4][3] It is also to make a noise like thunder: Virgil has a huge shield thundering above a fallen man.[4] It is to utter in thunderous tones: Virgil's greatest of the Furies thunders, and Propertius says that Callimachus would not thunder of the battles of Jupiter and Enceladus from his narrow breast.[4] Valerius Flaccus uses it transitively, of Hercules making his club thunder.[4] Church Latin glosses it to thunder.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of Jupiter thundering.[4][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of the thundering sky and of the Furies.[4][6]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of thundering verse.[4][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To thunder.[4][3][1][7]
  2. To make a noise like thunder.[4]
  3. To utter in thunderous tones.[4]
  4. To make something thunder.[4]

Usage notes

A separate Medieval Latin intonāre, to sing according to tone, formed from tonus, is the source of English intone, from the late 14th century.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com