strepito

Forms

strepitō (present infinitive strepitāre); first conjugation^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin strepō (“to make a noise”) + -itō, a frequentative or intensive verb.^[1][3][2][4] De Vaan traces strepō to Proto-Italic *strepe/o- and Proto-Indo-European *strep-e/o-, but doubts that the root goes back to Proto-Indo-European, since it is found only in Latin and Germanic, as in Old Norse þrefa (“to quarrel”) and Old English þræft.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short call it poetic and very rare.^[3] It is first found in Virgil's Georgics, of rooks clamouring among the leaves (inter se foliis strepitant).^[3][2][6]

Semantic evolution

Tibullus uses it of Love flying with rustling wings (strepitantibus alis) and of clashing arms heard in the sky;^[3][2] Silius Italicus too speaks of clashing arms.^[2] In Valerius Flaccus cities ring with the beating of anvils (pulsis strepitant incudibus urbes),^[3][2][6] the use the OLD defines as places filled with noise.^[1] The Consolatio ad Liviam has mourners clamouring through the city.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of clamouring rooks.^[3][2][7]
• c. 55–19/18 BC – Tibullus uses it of rustling wings and clashing arms.^[3][2][7]
• 25–101 AD – Silius Italicus uses it of clashing arms.^[2][7]
• end of the 1st century AD – Valerius Flaccus uses it of cities ringing with anvils.^[3][2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make a loud or harsh noise; to clamour, rustle, clash.^[1][3][2]
2. (of places) To resound, ring (with noise).^[1][8][6]

Word family

• instrepito
• obstrepito

Related words

• strepitus

Usage notes

In Ovid's Metamorphoses 11.365, where it was once read, editors now print the noun strepitus.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.