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modulor

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word modulor

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*med-o-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin modulus
Latin modulor

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmɔ.dʊ.ɫɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɔː.du.lor][1]

Forms

modulor (present infinitive modulārī, perfect active modulātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1] An active modulō is also found.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin modulus (“small measure”) + -ō,[3][2][4] itself a diminutive of modus (“measure”);[4] Augustine derived it from modus directly.[2] De Vaan traces modus to Proto-Italic *medo- (“measure, judgement”) and Proto-Indo-European *med-o- (“measure”).[5] Cognate with Umbrian mers (“law”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero,[3] who writes that nature itself modulates the voice for the ears of men, hominum auribus vocem natura modulatur ipsa.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is to regulate sounds by the rules of melody, pitch and rhythm;[3] Cicero says nature put an acute accent in every word as though modulating human speech.[6] Of songs it is to sing or play, as in Virgil's “I will play the songs on the Sicilian shepherd's pipe”, and to set to music, of songs written on beech bark.[3][6] Livy has maidens beating time with their feet, and Horace words to be set to Latin strings.[6] Manilius uses it of putting into verse, and a poem in the Tibullan collection of playing the lyre with an ivory plectrum.[3] Vitruvius uses it intransitively of making music on an instrument.[3] In post-Augustan prose it is also to measure, as in Gellius, or to regulate, as in Pliny the Elder's ita modulante nātūrā, “as nature regulates it”.[3][6] Church Latin has it as to temper, regulate, mitigate or measure.[7] English modulate (1610s) is from its participle.[4]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of nature modulating the voice.[3][8]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of playing songs on a pipe.[3][8]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of maidens beating time.[6][8]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius, of measuring.[3][8]
  • 1610s – Borrowed into English as modulate.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To regulate sounds by melody and rhythm, to modulate;[3][6][1] to beat time.[6][1]
  2. To sing or play songs;[3][6][1] to set to music;[3] to put into verse.[3]
  3. To play a musical instrument;[3][6] intransitively, to make music.[3]
  4. To measure;[3][6][1] to regulate, temper.[6][7][1]

Word family

  • modulātiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  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 f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Modulor.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/modulor. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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