Etymologically
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stultus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈstʊɫ.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈstul.tus][1]

Forms

stultus (feminine stulta, neuter stultum, comparative stultior, superlative stultissimus, adverb stultē); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *stoltos,[1] and belongs with stolidus (“dull, stupid”).[2][3] De Vaan reconstructs ⟨*stl-to-⟩ and calls the further origin uncertain;[3] Pokorny derives both adjectives from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to place, stand”), so that they first meant “inert, standing still”.[3][4] Wiktionary compares Ancient Greek στελεός (steleós) and, with less certainty, Proto-Germanic *stultaz (“proud”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus.[4] Plautus has quid stulta plōrās?, “why are you crying, silly girl?”, and stultior stultō fuistī, “you were more of a fool than a fool”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Stultus is “slow-witted, stupid, foolish” of persons, and of actions and words “silly, inept”.[2][5][1] Plautus piles up its synonyms: stultī, stolidī, fatuī, fungī, bardī, blennī, bucconēs, “fools, dolts, idiots, mushrooms, blockheads, drivellers, babblers”.[5] Stultōrum fēriae, “the fools' feast”, was a name for the Quirinalia, when those who had missed their own festival sacrificed (Ovid, Festus).[2]

As a noun stultus is “a fool”;[6] Church Latin glosses it “silly, stupid”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: quid stulta plōrās?.[2][4]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid explains the stultōrum fēriae.[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. foolish, stupid, slow-witted.[2][5][1][6]
  2. Silly, inept (of actions or words).[2]
  3. stultōrum fēriae: a name for the Quirinalia.[2]

Noun

  1. A fool.[6]

Word family

  • stultiloquentia
  • stultiloquus
  • stultitia
  • stultividus
  • stolidus

Usage notes

Döderlein groups stultus with stupidus, brūtus and bardus, words for want of intellect.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d 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