Etymologically
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querulus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkʷɛ.rʊ.ɫʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkʷɛː.ru.lus][1]

Forms

querulus (feminine querula, neuter querulum, adverb querulē); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin queror (“to complain”) + -ulus.[2][1] De Vaan traces queror to Proto-Italic *kwes-e/o-;[3] Walde–Hofmann, Pokorny and the LIV derive it from Proto-Indo-European *kʷes- (“to hiss”), by way of sighing, which he finds possible but not compelling.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Virgil,[4] whose Georgics have the plaintive cicadas that will burst the thickets with song.[2]

Semantic evolution

Of persons it means full of complaints, querulous or fretful, as Horace's old man, “difficult, querulous, a praiser of the past when he was a boy”.[2][5] Propertius uses it of a complaining voice, and Ovid of circumstances full of complaint.[2] Of animals and things it is giving forth a plaintive or murmuring sound, as Virgil's cicadas.[2][1] Lewis & Short note that it is mostly poetic and not in Cicero.[5]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of plaintive cicadas.[2][4]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of a querulous old man.[2][4]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of a complaining voice.[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Full of complaints, querulous, fretful; of sounds and circumstances, complaining.[2][5][1]
  2. Of animals and things, uttering a soft, plaintive sound; murmuring, cooing, chirping.[2][1]

Word family

  • querulōsus
  • querulē

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press