strepitus

Forms

strepitus m (genitive strepitūs); fourth declension^[1] Ennius has a genitive strepitī.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from strepō (“to make a loud noise”) with the suffix -tus.^[2][1][4] De Vaan reconstructs the verb as Proto-Italic *strepe/o- and compares only Germanic words, Old Norse þrefa (“to quarrel”) and Old English þræft (“quarrel”), so its Indo-European age is uncertain.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it in the Amphitruo, in a list of the noises at Alcmena's labour: strepitus, crepitus, sonitus, tonitrus.^[2][5][4]

Semantic evolution

It is any noise, from the crash of falling things to the sound of musical instruments, as Horace's “sweet sound of the golden lyre”.^[2][3] Of people it is noisy talk and uproar, as the din of the senate that forced a speaker to finish (Cicero), and the bustle of business, as Cicero's orator far from the din of the forum.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “din, rumbling, creaking”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of noises.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of uproar and the din of the forum.^[2][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of the sound of the lyre.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A noise, din, crash, rattle.^[2][1][6]
2. (poetic) The sound of a musical instrument.^[2][1]
3. Noisy talk, clamour, uproar.^[2]
4. The din, bustle (of business).^[2]

Related words

• strepō
• fragor
• crepitus

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes strepitus, a loud noise such as roaring or shouting, from fragor, a crashing sound, and crepitus, a sharp rattling one.^[7]

References

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