Etymologically
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stupor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈstʊ.pɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈstuː.por][1]

Forms

stupor m (genitive stupōris); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin stupeō (“to be stunned”) + -or.[2][1][3] De Vaan traces that verb to Proto-Italic *stup-ē- (“to be stunned”) and Proto-Indo-European *stup-eh₁- (“to hit, push”), and compares Ancient Greek τύπτω (túptō, “to hit, strike”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Catullus.[3] Cicero uses it of the numbness of the senses through which some sick people do not taste the sweetness of food.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is insensibility, numbness, torpor;[2][5] Lewis & Short give the synonym torpor.[2][5] It is bewilderment or stupefaction, as Livy's senators held fast by stupor and silence at the outrage, and astonishment or wonder.[2][1] It is also dullness of mind, stupidity, as when Cicero asks what stupor, or rather madness, has overcome his opponent, and by metonymy a dull person, a clod.[2][5] Church Latin glosses it numbness, stupor, astonishment, stupidity.[6] English stupor dates from the late 14th century, first in medicine.[7]

Timeline

  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus.[3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of numbness and of stupidity.[2][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of stunned silence.[2]
  • late 14th century – English stupor.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Insensibility, numbness, torpor.[2][5][1][6]
  2. Bewilderment, stupefaction; astonishment, amazement.[2][5][1][6]
  3. Dullness, stupidity; a dull person.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • stuporatus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  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 e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com