singultus

Forms

singultus m (genitive singultūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][1] De Vaan reports Leumann's view that it comes from an older verb ⟨*sing-ulāre⟩, with the suffix of other verbs of sound such as sībilō, and is formed like tumultus; since it cannot continue a participle ⟨*singulitus⟩ under the regular syncope, it may have been made directly after other words in ⟨-ultus⟩.^[3] The root has been compared with Proto-Indo-European *sengwh- (“to sing”), but de Vaan also suggests Proto-Indo-European *sengw- (“to fall down, sink”), since sobbing and coughing shake the throat and head.^[3] Köbler compares glūtiō (“to swallow”) with a query, and Lewis & Short derived it from singulī (“one at a time”), an uttering of single sounds.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Lucretius,^[3] who uses it of the convulsive gasping of the dying and of a hiccough.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the catching of the breath in sobbing, and in the plural sobs: Cicero says one could see many tears and weeping with sobs.^[2][5] It is also the convulsive gasp of a dying person, a death rattle, and a hiccough.^[2][1] Pliny the Elder applies it to the sounds of birds, the clucking of hens and the croaking of ravens;^[2][1] Wiktionary also gives the gurgling of water.^[2][1] Church Latin glosses it weeping, sobbing.^[6] English took singult for a fit of gasping in the early 15th century, for a sob in the 1580s and for a hiccup in 1754.^[7]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of gasping and hiccoughs.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of sobbing.^[2][5][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of the croaking of ravens.^[2]
• early 15th century – English singult.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Sobbing;^[2][5][1][6] (plural) sobs.^[2][5][1][6]
2. The gasping of a dying person, death rattle.^[2][1]
3. A hiccup.^[2][1]
4. The clucking of hens, croaking of ravens; gurgling of water.^[2][1]

Word family

• singultiō
• singultō
• singultim
• suggluttium

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com