Etymologically
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loquor

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈɫɔ.kʷɔr][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈlɔː.kʷor][1]

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
  • 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