mulceo

Forms

mulceō (present infinitive mulcēre, perfect active mulsī, supine mulsum or mulctum); second conjugation^[1] The perfect is attested in the simple verb only in Ennius' mulserat; elsewhere it occurs in compounds.^[2] The supine is mulsum, rarely mulctum.^[3][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *molk-eje- (“to stroke, rub”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *m(o)lḱ-eie- (“to touch repeatedly”).^[4][1] Cognate with Sanskrit मृश् (mṛś, “to touch, stroke”) and Sogdian mrws- (“to touch”).^[4][1] The LIV sets up an initial laryngeal because of a possible link with Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ- (“to milk”), the root of mulgeō (“to milk”), to which the OLD and the TLL also relate it; de Vaan finds this possible but unproven.^[4][2][5] The verb mulcō (“to beat”) may be from a related noun.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest use in the OLD is in Ennius, of the sea carrying a storm-tossed ship gently along.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense is “to stroke, caress, touch lightly”, as Cicero's Aquarius stroking the Horse's neck, and in poetry of the wind playing on trees.^[2] Figuratively it is to soothe someone's passions, to pacify: Pacuvius has “why do you frighten me with your gaze and soothe me with praise?”, and Virgil a priest who calmed the anger of snakes.^[2] It is also to relieve pain, to make conditions more bearable or smells sweeter, and to charm the senses, as in Lucretius.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “charm, soothe, appease, delight”.^[6]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius of the sea moving a ship.^[2][7]
• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of soothing with praise.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of stroking.^[2][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of calming snakes.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stroke, caress, touch lightly; of wind, to play on; to move gently along.^[2][3][1]
2. To soothe, pacify, appease; to calm feelings or storms.^[2][1][6]
3. To relieve pain; to make easier; to make sweeter.^[2][1]
4. To charm, delight the senses.^[2][1][6]

Word family

• admulceo
• circummulceō
• commulceō
• dēmulceō
• mulcēdō
• permulceō
• praemulceō
• prōmulceō
• remulceō

Related words

• mulcō
• mulgeō

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes mulcēre, to stroke something rough to make it smooth, and so to pacify an angry person, from palpāre, to stroke something already smooth for a pleasant feeling, and so to coax.^[8]

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 g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper