loquor

Forms

loquor (present infinitive loquī or loquier, perfect active locūtus sum); third conjugation, deponent^[1] Naevius has the old infinitive loquier.^[2] The participle is also spelled loquūtus, and loquuntur is sometimes written locuntur.^[2][3] Petronius has active forms (loquis, loquere).^[3]

Etymology

According to de Vaan it is inherited from Proto-Italic *tlokʷ-e/o- (“to talk”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *tlokʷ- (“to talk”).^[4][1] The participle ⟨locūtus⟩ is analogical, after pairs like solvō : ⟨solūtus⟩.^[4][1] Cognate with Old Irish ad·tluchedar (“gives thanks”), do·tluchedar (“demands”) and Russian толк (tolk, “sense, meaning”).^[4]

The OLD calls the origin doubtful;^[3][2] Lewis and Short compared Sanskrit लप् (lap-, “to talk, whisper”) and Ancient Greek λάσκω (láskō, “to shriek, speak”).^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Naevius on;^[4] Plautus has loquere, quid vēnistī? “speak: why have you come?”^[3]

Semantic evolution

Loquī is to talk, speak, also to say or utter something (nūgās loquī “to talk nonsense”), to converse (cum aliquō, inter sē), and to speak of, mention.^[3][2] Wiktionary adds the sense of speaking formally or in defence of someone.^[1]

It is the base of many words for kinds of speech: colloquor, alloquor, ēloquor, loquāx “talkative” and loquēla “speech”.^[4][1]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – First found in Naevius.^[4]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: tēcum loquor, “I'm talking to you”.^[3][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence: loquere, audiō.^[3][5]
• before 66 AD – Petronius uses active forms.^[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To talk, speak.^[3][2][6]
2. To say, utter.^[3][1]
3. To converse, chat.^[3][6]
4. To speak of, mention.^[3]
5. To speak formally (as in law or in someone's defence).^[1]

Word family

• aliēniloquium
• alloquium
• alloquor
• anteloquium
• astriloquus
• blandiloquium
• blandiloquus
• breviloquēns
• breviloquium
• breviloquus
• caeliloquus
• circumloquor

Related words

• allocūtiō
• allocūtus
• blandiloquentia
• blandiloquentulus
• breviloquentia
• collocūtiō
• collocūtor
• ēloquor
• interlocūtiō
• locūtiō
• dīcō
• for
• aiō

Usage notes

Döderlein contrasts loquī, ordinary speaking, with dīcere, speaking as an orator or to inform a hearer, quoting Cicero: neque enim cōnāmur docēre eum dīcere quī loquī nesciat, “we do not try to teach oratory to one who cannot talk”.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper