lenocinor

Forms

lēnōcinor (present infinitive lēnōcinārī, perfect active lēnōcinātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lēnō (“pimp, procurer”) + -cinor, as the OLD analyses it;^[2] the TLL and Lewis and Short also derive it from that noun.^[3][4] Wiktionary takes ⟨-cinor⟩ for a combining form of canō (“to sing”).^[1] It stands beside lēnōcinium (“pandering; allurement”), recorded from Plautus on.^[5] For the noun itself de Vaan weighs several explanations, among them an old n-stem meaning “one who lets”, perhaps the same as in lēnis (“calm”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it first:^[6] tibi serviet, tibi lēnōcinābitur, “he will be your slave, he will pander to you”, and will argue less hard than he can.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short take the literal sense to be “to pander”, whence to flatter or wheedle.^[4] With the dative of a thing it means to serve or promote: the elder Seneca has someone pandering to the speaker's glory, and Pliny the Elder uses it of courting a legacy.^[2][4] After Augustus it comes to mean to set off or enhance: in Pliny the Younger novelty will recommend a book, Quintilian has slave dealers enhancing boys' beauty, and Tacitus says the Harii add art and timing to their native ferocity.^[4][7]

The grammarian Charisius lists it among the deponents, while glossaries also have an active form ⟨lēnōcinō⟩ and explain it as “persuading” or “seducing”.^[3]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of pandering to a defendant.^[2][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of courting a legacy.^[2][6]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of enhancing beauty.^[4][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of adding to ferocity.^[4][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To act as a pander for, serve the interests of (someone); to flatter, wheedle.^[2][4]
2. Of things, to promote, set off, enhance.^[2][4][7]

Word family

• lēnōcināmentum
• lenocinator

Related words

• lēnō
• lēnōcinium

Usage notes

Lewis and Short give blandior and adūlor as synonyms.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn