Etymologically
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ostento

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɔsˈtɛn.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [osˈtɛn.to][1]

Forms

ostentō (present infinitive ostentāre, perfect active ostentāvī, supine ostentātum); first conjugation[1] Plautus has the passive infinitive ostentārier.[2]

Etymology

It is the frequentative of ostendō (“to show”), formed on its participle ⟨ostentus⟩ with -tō.[3][1][4] De Vaan counts ⟨ostendō⟩ among the old forms of ob with ⟨obs-⟩ (as in oscen), and lists it among the compounds of tendō (“to stretch”), from Proto-Italic *tend- and Proto-Indo-European *ten-d(h)- (“to stretch”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Aulularia, of a deceiver: alterā manū fert lapidem, pānem ostentat alterā, “he carries a stone in one hand and shows bread in the other”.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Ostentō is to hold something up to view, exhibit, display publicly (Velleius of a head displayed on the rostra), and in Plautus to hold up as desirable.[3] Very often it implies display for effect: to parade or flourish (Terence's soldier who does not show off his scars), to make a show of military strength (Caesar), to boast of something, and reflexively to show off (Rhetorica ad Herennium).[3][1] It also means to show qualities in one's bearing (Cicero: Catiline's famous endurance of hunger and cold), to give an appearance of something (Tacitus), to point out or call attention to, to make known, and to hold out a prospect of reward or punishment: Pacuvius has mortem ostentant, “they threaten death”.[3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “show, exhibit, show off, present, hold as an example, point out, reveal, disclose”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of bread shown in one hand.[3][7]
  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of a threat of death.[3][7]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of a soldier displaying his scars.[3][7]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of a display of cavalry.[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To show, exhibit, display.[3][1][6]
  2. To show off, parade, boast of;[3][1][6] (reflexive) to show off.[3][1][6]
  3. To show (a quality); to give the appearance of.[3]
  4. To point out, call attention to; to reveal, disclose.[3][1][6]
  5. To hold out (a prospect), promise; to threaten with.[3][1]
  6. To hold up as an example.[1][6]

Word family

  • ostentāneus
  • ostentātiō
  • ostentātor
  • ostentātrix
  • ostentāculum
  • ostentātōrius

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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 n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 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