Etymologically
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strepito

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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

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.