Etymologically
Log in

o

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 21:37. This address is a permanent link to this version.
← Previous version Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈoː], [ˈɔ][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɔː][1]

Forms

ō (interjection; also short ŏ)[2] The vowel is long, even before another vowel (ō ego), but Virgil has ŏ Alexi.[2]

Etymology

It is an expressive word, an exclamation.[1] Köbler compares a PIE interjection Proto-Indo-European *ō.[3] The use as a vocative particle (“O …!”) is a semantic loan from Ancient Greek ὦ (ô); older Latin uses prō or the bare vocative.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in the Carmen Saliare and in Ennius:[3] ō Rōmule, Rōmule dīe, “O Romulus, divine Romulus”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Ō is the commonest exclamation of joy, astonishment, desire, grief or indignation.[2] It is used with a vocative (ō mī Furnī!), with an accusative of exclamation (ō mē perditum! “ah, I am ruined!”), rarely with a nominative (ō vir fortis atque amīcus!), and with utinam or sī in wishes (ō sī …! “oh, if only …!”).[2]

The TLL notes that a distinction between ō and oh, which some editors find in the manuscripts of Plautus and Terence, is not kept by later writers.[4]

Timeline

  • Archaic – Found in the Carmen Saliare.[3]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius: ō Rōmule, Rōmule dīe.[2][3]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence: ō faciem pulchram![2][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: ō mē perditum, ō mē afflīctum![2][3]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil: ō sī solitae quicquam virtūtis adesset![2][3]

Meanings

Interjection

  1. oh!, O! (of joy, surprise, desire, grief or indignation).[2][1][5]
  2. (with vocative) O …![2][1]
  3. (with accusative) ō mē perditum!, ah, I am ruined![2]
  4. ō utinam …, ō sī …, oh, if only …![2]

Usage notes

Ō is also the name of the letter O, an indeclinable neuter or feminine.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson