splendeo

Forms

splendeō (present infinitive splendēre, perfect active splenduī); second conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1] Augustine has the perfect splenduī.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *splnd/þē-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *splnd(h)-eh₁- (“to be manifest”).^[3][1] Cognate with Old Irish sluindid (“to express, declare, name”) and Welsh ystlwn (“kin, connection”), from a causative “to make manifest”; because of the Celtic meanings de Vaan thinks it conceivable that the root is related to *(s)pelH- (“to speak in public”), seen in Gothic and Armenian words for a tale or legend.^[3] The OLD compares, with doubt, Lithuanian spléndžiu and Middle Irish lainn (“bright”), and Wiktionary adds Old Cornish splan (“shining”).^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[3] whose Rudens opens with the star Arcturus saying “I am, as you see, a shining white star”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It means to shine or be bright, of stars and of anything gleaming, as Ennius' plain that glitters and bristles with long spears, and to be bright or resplendent with whiteness or colour.^[4][2] Lewis & Short note that it is mostly poetic and that Cicero has it only once, figuratively.^[2] By transfer it means to shine forth or be distinguished, as Livy's man who shone through the unpopularity of others.^[4]

Döderlein says that splendere is a steady brightness that results from a clear, pure light, the opposite of sordēre, while nitēre is the glistening of something oiled or washed, the opposite of squālēre.^[5] Church Latin glosses it to shine, glitter, be bright, glisten.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a shining star.^[4][3][7]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius of a plain glittering with spears.^[2][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a man shining forth through others' unpopularity.^[4][7]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses the perfect splenduī.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To shine, be bright or radiant; to glitter, gleam.^[4][2][6][1]
2. To be bright or resplendent with whiteness or colour.^[4]
3. (figurative) To shine forth, be brilliant or distinguished.^[4][1]

Word family

• resplendeō
• splendentia
• splendēscō
• splendicō
• splendidus
• splendor
• splendificō

Related words

• splendidē
• splendidō
• splendōrifer

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon 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 c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de