lallo

Forms

lallō (present infinitive lallāre); first conjugation, no passive, no perfect or supine stems^[1]

Etymology

De Vaan takes it as onomatopoeic, a reduplicated imitation of a baby's sounds;^[2] the OLD calls it a child's word.^[3] The TLL derives it from lalla (“lullaby”), the nurse's song.^[4] Wiktionary allows that it may instead be a reduplicated form of Proto-Indo-European *leh₂-.^[1]

Comparable forms are Ancient Greek λαλέω (laléō, “to talk, chat, prattle”), Lithuanian laluóti (“to babble”) and German lallen.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Persius,^[2][4] who asks a pampered man why he refuses to be sung to sleep (lallare recusas).^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The scholiast on Persius explains it from the song that nurses sing to crying children.^[4] Jerome uses it of a mother singing a lullaby.^[5][4] A Latin–Greek glossary renders it with Ancient Greek βαβάζω (babázō).^[5]

Timeline

• 34–62 AD – Persius uses it of singing a child to sleep.^[4][6]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it in a letter.^[5][4][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To sing a lullaby.^[3][5]

Usage notes

The OLD notes that a spelling lalō may also have existed.^[3]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de