Etymologically
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ploro

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈpɫoː.roː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈplɔː.ro][1]

Forms

plōrō (present infinitive plōrāre, perfect active plōrāvī, supine plōrātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It has no etymology.[2][3] Walde and Hofmann and Ernout and Meillet thought it possible that explōrō first meant “to scout the hunting ground by shouting”, as the ancients said.[2][4] Leumann, following Szemerényi, took it as a dissimilated *prōrāre, from prō and ōrō, which de Vaan finds less likely.[2][1] Lewis and Short compared pluō “to rain”.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from the Twelve Tables and Plautus, and a law ascribed to Servius Tullius, quoted by Festus, curses a son who beats his parent if the parent cries out.[2][3][5] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

It first meant to cry out, then to utter a cry of grief or pain, to weep aloud, wail or whine.[5][3] Transitively it was to bewail or lament, as Horace's girl asking whether she is awake to weep over a shameful deed.[3] Caecilius uses it with implōrō, “I beg, I wail, I implore”.[3]

Döderlein says lacrimāre is to shed tears, flēre to weep, and plōrāre to wail aloud.[7] It replaced flēre in much of Romance: French pleurer, Spanish llorar, Portuguese chorar.[1] Its compounds gave English deplore, English implore and English explore.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use it.[2]
  • 230/220–168 BC – Caecilius pairs it with implōrō.[3][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of lamenting a shameful deed.[3][6]
  • c. 1500 – English implore is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To cry out; to wail, weep aloud.[3][5]
  2. To bewail, lament, deplore.[3]

Word family

  • applōrō
  • complōrō
  • dēplōrō
  • explōrō
  • implōrō
  • opplōrō
  • plōrābilis
  • plōrātillus
  • plōrātiō
  • plōrātor
  • plōrātus
  • replōrō

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes lacrimāre (to shed tears), flēre (to weep) and plōrāre and ēiulāre (to cry and wail aloud).[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com