Etymologically
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mollio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmɔl.li.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɔl.li.o][1]

Forms

molliō (present infinitive mollīre, perfect active mollīvī or molliī, supine mollītum); fourth conjugation[1] Accius and Ovid have an imperfect mollībat.[2][3] Terence has a passive infinitive mollīrier.[3]

Etymology

It is formed from mollis (“soft”) with the verb suffix -iō.[2][3][1] De Vaan derives ⟨mollis⟩ from Proto-Italic *moldu- and Proto-Indo-European *mld-u- (“soft”), a stem in ⟨-u-⟩ remade as one in ⟨-i-⟩ in Latin.[4] Cognate with Welsh blydd (“soft”) and Sanskrit मृदु (mṛdú, “soft, delicate”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pacuvius has “the winds fall silent, the sea is calmed”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to make soft or yielding, as Cicero's earth that takes in the seed in its softened lap, and in medicine to relax the body, as Livy's oil passed round to make the soldiers' limbs supple.[2][3] It is to weaken the body or make it effeminate, as in Ovid, and to calm the sea or weather.[2][3][1] It is to make less hostile or appease, as Terence's man who cannot be softened by pity or prayers, to tame, as Cicero's Fabius who wore down Hannibal by his patience, and to weaken someone's resolve.[2][3] It is to lessen or mitigate, as Caesar's winding road made to ease the slope, and to make something easier to bear, as Cicero's harsh metaphor softened by a word put before it.[2][3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “soften, make smooth”.[5]

Timeline

  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of the calmed sea.[2][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of softening by prayers.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of softened earth and of Hannibal tamed.[2][6]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of easing a slope.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To soften, make pliant;[2][3][1][5] (medicine) to relax.[2][3][1][5]
  2. To weaken, make effeminate.[2][1]
  3. To calm (the sea, weather).[2]
  4. To appease, mollify; to tame.[2][3][1]
  5. To weaken (resolve).[2]
  6. To mitigate, lessen; to make easier to bear.[2][3][1]

Word family

  • ēmolliō
  • mollīmentum
  • mollītōrius
  • praemolliō
  • remolliō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de