ploratus

Forms

plōrātus m (genitive plōrātūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin plōrō (“to wail, weep”) + -tus, a fourth-declension action noun.^[2][1][3] De Vaan finds no etymology for plōrō;^[4] Walde–Hofmann and Ernout–Meillet, he reports, think likely the ancient explanation that explōrō first meant to scout a hunting ground by shouting, while he finds Szemerényi's dissimilation from ⟨*prōrāre⟩ less likely.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Lucretius,^[4] who has mixti vagitibus aegris ploratus, “wailing mixed with sickly cries”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is the action of expressing grief or pain, wailing or crying.^[2] Cicero, translating the words of Heracles from Sophocles, has heu, virginalem me ore ploratum edere, “alas, that I should utter a girlish wail”.^[3][6] Livy uses the plural of women and children wailing,^[6][5] Curtius of a palace resounding with laments,^[5] and Pliny the Elder of a satyr hushing a crying infant and of springs said to make people laugh or weep.^[5][3] Pliny also uses it of a tree “weeping”, exuding resin.^[6][7] The Vulgate has vox ploratus in Matthew,^[6] and Christian writers such as Cyprian and Augustine use it of weeping.^[3] Medieval British writers keep the sense weeping, mourning, lamentation.^[8]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses the plural of wailing.^[4][5][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in a verse translation from Sophocles.^[3][9]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of the wailing of women and children.^[6][9]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a tree exuding resin.^[6][9]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has vox ploratus in Matthew.^[6][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wailing, weeping, crying, lamentation.^[2][6][10]
2. Of a tree, the exuding of resin.^[6][7]

Related words

• plōrō
• explōrō
• implōrō

Usage notes

The same spelling is the perfect passive participle of plōrō, “wept over, lamented”, which Gaffiot gives an entry of its own.^[11][12] Grammarians attest the masculine gender of the noun.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
11. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
12. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.