taciturnus

Forms

taciturnus (feminine taciturna, neuter taciturnum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin tacitus (“silent”) + -urnus.^[2][1] tacitus is the participle of taceō (“to be silent”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *tak-ē- and Proto-Indo-European *tHk-eh₁- (“to be silent”), cognate with Umbrian taçez (“silent”) and Old Norse þegja (“to be silent”); he rejects a link with the Greek verb for cowering.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.^[3][4] Its earliest citations in the OLD and Lewis & Short are Lucretius' “silent silences” being broken and Cicero's man always seen as gloomy and taciturn.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It means keeping silent, saying nothing, as in Horace's man who goes out more silent than a statue,^[2] and silent by habit, taciturn, as in Cicero.^[2][5] Lewis & Short find it mostly in poetry.^[5] Of things it means noiseless or still, as Ovid and Lucretius have of silence and Nepos of a silent obstinacy.^[2][5] Döderlein distinguishes tacēre, to be silent instead of speaking, from silēre, to be still instead of making noise.^[6] In British Medieval Latin it is also used of a low sound.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^[3][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius, of silence broken.^[2][5][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a taciturn man.^[2][5][4]
• 1650s – taciturn appears in English.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Keeping silent, saying nothing; taciturn, of few words.^[2][5][1]
2. Of things, noiseless, still, quiet.^[2][5]

Word family

• taciturnitās

Related words

• taceō
• tacitus
• English taciturn

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com