loquela

Forms

loquēla f (genitive loquēlae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin loquor (“to speak”) + -ēla.^[2][1][3] The spelling ⟨loquella⟩, common in inscriptions and old manuscripts, comes from taking the word for a diminutive.^[3][1] De Vaan traces loquor to Proto-Indo-European *tlokʷ- (“to talk”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[4] who uses it in the Cistellaria in the sense of speech, the way a person talks.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It is speech or utterance in general, and also the words spoken.^[2][5] Lucretius has the coaxing talk of a nurse, and Virgil “these words” poured from a speaker's mouth.^[5] Varro reports that some called a word a loquēla.^[5][3]

In Christian and Medieval Latin it also meant a manner of speech, a language or dialect, and conversation.^[7][8] It had a legal sense as well: a statement made in court, a claim, and a lawsuit, prosecution or plea, and even the power to pronounce judgement.^[9][8] English guilds used loquēla mātūtīnālis for the “morn-speech”, a meeting of the guild.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the Cistellaria.^[4][5][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it for a word.^[5][6]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of a nurse's talk.^[5][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses the plural of words spoken.^[5][6]
• first third of the 8th century – Bede uses it of the faculty of speech.^[8][6]
• 1330 – English guild statutes use loquēla mātūtīnālis for a guild meeting.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. speech, utterance; the words someone says.^[2][5][1]
2. A word.^[5]
3. (Ecclesiastical and Medieval Latin) A manner of speech; a language or dialect.^[7][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) conversation, talk.^[8]
5. (Medieval Latin) eloquence.^[9]
6. (Medieval Latin, law) A declaration in court; a claim; a suit, action or prosecution.^[9][8]

Word family

• loquelaris

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill