ostentus

Forms

ostentus m (genitive ostentūs); fourth declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ostendō (“to show”) + -tus, a verbal noun.^[1][3] De Vaan counts the verb among the compounds of tendō (“to stretch”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *tend- and the root Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the OLD record it first in Sallust (86–34 BC), in the dative ostentui: a speaker says he was born to be a display of Jugurtha's crimes, and Metellus believes that the signs of surrender are a mere show, laid to draw him into an ambush.^[1][5]

Semantic evolution

It is a rare word, used by Sallust, Tacitus and later writers, nearly always in the dative singular ostentui “for show, as a display”.^[3][1] Tacitus has bodies thrown outside the rampart as a public spectacle, a prisoner sent to be shown to the nations, a man allowed to live as a display of the ruler's clemency, and new laws given to Cappadocia more for show than to last.^[1][6] Gellius uses the ablative of a punishment made horrible as a display of cruelty.^[1][6] The grammarian Charisius reports that some placed ostentui among the adverbs, and the glossaries explain it as “visibly”.^[3] Ecclesiastical Latin keeps the sense of a display or spectacle.^[7]

Timeline

• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses ostentui of a proof and of a deceptive show.^[1][5]
• AD 98–115 – Tacitus uses it of public spectacle and display.^[1][5]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of a display of cruelty.^[1][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A presentation to view, display, exhibition; a public spectacle.^[1][6]
2. A misleading display, pretence, mere show.^[1][6]
3. A demonstration or proof (of a fact); a practical display (of a quality).^[1][6]

Usage notes

L&S, Georges and Conte also list ostentus, -a, -um as the perfect participle of ostendō.^[6][2][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier