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singulto

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word singulto

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
70–19 BC Virgil, Aeneid More words from the 1st century BC
Ultimate origin
Latin singultus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin singultus
Latin singultō
From the same root
Latin singultiō ← singultus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sɪŋˈɡʊɫ.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [siŋˈɡul.to][1]

Forms

singultō (present infinitive singultāre, perfect active singultāvī, supine singultātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin singultus (“sobbing; a hiccup”) + -ō.[2][3][1] De Vaan lists singultus among the words he files under gluttō (“to swallow”), a group he explains as an onomatopoeic formation in ⟨gul-⟩ / ⟨glu-⟩.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first text that has it is Virgil's Aeneid, of a dying man who rattles in his throat.[5][3][6]

Semantic evolution

The poets used it of the dying, gasping out their breath, and Ovid made it transitive: to gasp out one's life (animam).[2][5] Quintilian compared clipped, broken speech to the manner of people who gasp for breath,[2][5] and Statius and Calpurnius Siculus have “sobbing” words, speech broken by sobs.[5][3] Sidonius Apollinaris used it of water that gurgles out of an opening.[5][3] In Ovid's Tristia the perfect participle describes kisses mixed with sobbing sounds.[5]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a dying man rattling in the throat.[5][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it transitively, of gasping out one's life.[2][5][6]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of gasping for breath.[2][6]
  • c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of speech broken by sobs.[5][6]
  • c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius Apollinaris uses it of gurgling water.[5][3][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To catch the breath, to gasp; to sob.[2][5]
  2. (of the dying) To rattle in the throat.[5][3]
  3. (of water) To gurgle.[5][3]
  4. (transitive) To gasp out (one's life); to utter with sobs.[2][5]

Word family

  • singultim

Usage notes

The fourth-conjugation singultiō has much the same meaning but is mostly medical, of hiccuping.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  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 d e f g h i j k l m n o Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Singulto.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/singulto. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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