stridulus

Forms

strīdulus (feminine strīdula, neuter strīdulum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin strīdō (“to make a shrill sound”) + -ulus.^[2][1][3] De Vaan takes strīdō to be an onomatopoeic formation, with ⟨str⟩ and ⟨i⟩ rendering a high, shrill tone, and compares Ancient Greek τρίζω (trízō, “to squeak”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler finds it first in Virgil,^[5] who in the Aeneid speaks of a whizzing spear, stridula cornus.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

It is mainly a poetic word, which also appears in prose after Augustus.^[6] Ovid uses it of creaking carts and of a torch hissing with smoke,^[6][7] Lucan of whizzing missiles and of hissing,^[3] Silius Italicus of a catapult, and Seneca, in the Letters, of a thin, shrill voice.^[3][8]

In British medieval Latin it describes shrill sounds of all kinds: Aldhelm has the shrill sound of a trumpet, and other writers a cawing crow and the gnashing of teeth.^[9] English borrowed it in the 1610s as stridulous.^[10]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a whizzing spear.^[6][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of creaking carts and a hissing torch.^[6][7][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of a shrill voice.^[3][8][5]
• 1610s – English borrows it as stridulous.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Making a high-pitched or shrill sound: creaking, hissing, whizzing.^[2][6]

Related words

• strīdor
• English stridulous

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ 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 c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com