relanguesco

Forms

relanguēscō (present infinitive relanguēscere, perfect active relangŭī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1] In Ovid the perfect ⟨relanguit⟩ is scanned with four syllables.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + languēscō (“to become faint”).^[2][4][1] De Vaan lists languēscō among the derivatives of langueō (“to be faint”), which he traces to an adjective meaning faint or weak, Proto-Italic *lang-u-, a nasalised variant of the root of laxus (“loose”); the Proto-Indo-European form, Proto-Indo-European *sl-n-ǵ-u- (“weak, faint”), he marks as uncertain.^[5] Cognates he gives include Ancient Greek λαγαρός (lagarós, “slack, thin”) and Old English slæc (“weak, slack”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it in a letter to Atticus, where Quintus says that his anger has cooled.^[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

Of people it meant to grow faint or sink down: Ovid has a dying sister sink down with her face on her brother.^[2][7] Seneca uses it of winds that die down around midday and of colours that grow dull, and Pliny the Elder of a gem whose star grows dim.^[2][6] Lewis and Short call it classical but rare.^[7]

Figuratively it meant to lose ardour or to slacken:^[2][6] Caesar writes of a people who thought certain things made men's minds grow slack and their courage weaken,^[2][3] Livy of a king's attack flagging from weariness, and Ovid of passion cooling.^[2][6] Seneca uses it of the first heat of anger and of desire abating, Pliny the Younger of the attention of listeners, and Tacitus of indignation.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of anger cooling.^[2][8]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of minds growing slack.^[2][8]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of an attack flagging.^[2][8]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a person sinking down fainting.^[2][8]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of winds dying down.^[2][8]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a gem growing dim.^[7][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (of persons) To become faint, swoon away.^[2][7]
2. (of winds) To die down;^[2][6] (of something bright) to lose its brilliance, grow dim.^[2][6]
3. (figurative) To lose one's ardour; to slacken, abate.^[2][3]

Related words

• langueō
• languēscō
• languidus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de