salto

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈsaɫ.toː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsal.to]^[1]

Forms

saltō (present infinitive saltāre, perfect active saltāvī, supine saltātum); first conjugation^[1] Varro has salitō once, explaining the Saliī.^[2]

Etymology

It is the frequentative of saliō “to leap”, with -tō.^[3][1][2] De Vaan traces ⟨saliō⟩ to Proto-Italic *sal-je- (“to jump”), Proto-Indo-European *sh₂l-ye/o- (“to jump”), cognate with Ancient Greek ἅλλομαι (hállomai, “to leap”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is Plautus, “to dance”.^[3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to dance, with gestures and mime, as in Plautus, Scipio quoted by Macrobius, and Cicero; and transitively to represent by dancing.^[3][2][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to dance.^[7] It survives as French sauter, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese saltare, saltar “to jump” and Romanian sălta, and English saltate is from it.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.^[6][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To dance.^[3][2]
2. (transitive) To represent in dance.^[3]

Word family

• circumsaltans
• dēsaltō
• persultō
• praesultō
• saltābundus
• saltātiō
• saltātor
• saltātōrius
• saltātrīx
• saltātus
• saltitō
• transultō

Related words

• saliō
• saltus
• Saliī

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson