parabola

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [paˈra.bɔ.ɫa]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [paˈraː.bo.la]^[1]

Forms

parabola f (genitive parabolae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek παραβολή (parabolḗ, “comparison; parable”).^[2][1][3] The Greek form ⟨parabolē⟩ is usual in classical writers.^[2][4] Augustine says that, though Greek, it was already used as a Latin word.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gaffiot's earliest citation is from Seneca, of a comparison.^[4] Köbler dates Seneca 4 BC–65 AD.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In rhetoric it meant an explanatory comparison, a simile, as in Seneca and Quintilian, who explains that the likeness either precedes or follows the thing.^[2][7][4] In Tertullian it meant a parable, and in the Vulgate a proverb.^[4] Isidore defines it as a comparison of unlike things, as Lucan comparing Caesar to a lion.^[8]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a parable, similitude, comparison.^[9] Medieval Latin used it for a metaphor, a proverb, and a word, speech.^[10] It survives in Italian parola, French parole, Spanish palabra and Portuguese palavra, and Old French parable gave English parable in the late 13th century.^[1][3] Portuguese palavra gave English palaver, and French parole English parole.^[3]

Timeline

• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of a comparison.^[4][6]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian discusses it.^[7][6]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of a parable.^[4][6]
• late 13th century – English parable is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A comparison, simile.^[2]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A parable; a proverb.^[9][4]
3. (Medieval Latin) A word, speech.^[10]

Word family

• parabolicē
• parabolō

Related words

• English parable
• English parole
• English palaver
• English parabola

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill