Etymologically
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sibilo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈsiː.bɪ.ɫoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsiː.bi.lo][1]

Forms

sībilō (present infinitive sībilāre, perfect active sībilāvī, supine sībilātum); first conjugation[1] Nonius records a by-form sīfilō.[2]

Etymology

The OLD derives it from the noun sībilus (“a hiss, whistle”).[3][1] De Vaan points out that the verb is attested earlier than the noun, so it may be the older word, and he takes both as probably onomatopoeic, imitating a sound ⟨sīb-⟩ (or ⟨sī-⟩ with a suffix).[4] For the noun Köbler compares Proto-Indo-European *su̯ei- (“to hiss, whistle”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Plautus,[4] of people who stare at someone in the street, nod, wink and hiss: conspiciant omnes, nutent, nictent, sibilent.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The Rhetorica ad Herennium gives it as an example of a word made by imitating a sound, beside rudere and mūgīre.[3][2] It is used of snakes hissing, in Virgil, Propertius and Ovid,[2][6] of a red-hot iron plunged into water, in Ovid,[2][6] of ropes, wind and weapons whistling, in Silius, Lucan and Ammianus,[2] and of hissing in disapproval: Cicero uses it of hissing in disapproval,[6] and in Horace a speaker says populus mē sībilat, at mihi plaudō ipse domī, “the people hiss me, but I applaud myself at home”.[3][2] Lewis & Short call it classical but rare.[2] In Ecclesiastical Latin it keeps the senses to hiss and to whistle.[7] English sibilate (1650s) is from its participle.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of people hissing at a passer-by.[3][4][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of hissing in disapproval.[6][2][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it transitively, “to hiss at”.[3][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of serpents.[2][6][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of hot iron in water.[2][5]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of whistling weapons.[2][5]
  • 1650s – English borrows sibilate from its participle.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make a hissing or whistling sound.[3][2][7]
  2. To hiss in disrespect or disapproval; transitively, to hiss at someone.[3][2]

Word family

  • assībilō
  • exsībilō
  • īnsībilō
  • obsībilō
  • resibilo
  • sībilātiō
  • sībilātrīx
  • sibilatus

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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c 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 f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com