tremulus

Forms

tremulus (feminine tremula, neuter tremulum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from tremō (“to tremble”) with the suffix -ulus.^[2][3][1] De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Italic *trem-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *tr(e)m- (“to tremble”), cognate with Umbrian tremitu (“let him scare”), Ancient Greek τρέμω (trémō, “to tremble”) and Lithuanian trìmti (“to tremble”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[3] who has a “trembling old woman” in the Curculio.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is trembling or shaking, of people and parts of the body, from age, illness, weakness, fear or cold, as Juvenal's feet that cannot stand.^[2][4] Of a voluntary movement it is shaking or wriggling, as Catullus' baby boy rocked in his father's arm.^[2] Of things it is quivering, as Catullus' creaking bed; of light flickering, as Ennius' trembling light; and of sound quavering, as the mother bird's cry in Cicero's verse.^[2][4]

Lewis and Short call it poetic and post-Augustan.^[4] In Late Latin, from the 6th-century Plinius Valerius, it is also a noun for the aspen,^[1] and medieval Latin keeps it as “trembling poplar”.^[5] English tremulous comes from it, from the 1610s.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a trembling old woman.^[2][7]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius of flickering light.^[2][7]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of a quivering bed.^[2][7]
• 6th century AD – Plinius Valerius uses it as a noun for the aspen.^[1]
• 1610s – English tremulous is formed from it.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Trembling, shaking (from age, illness, fear or cold).^[2][4][1]
2. Shaking, wriggling.^[2]
3. Quivering, vibrating;^[2][4] (of light) flickering;^[2][4] (of sound) tremulous, quavering.^[2][4]

Noun

1. (Late Latin) The aspen, trembling poplar.^[1][5]

Word family

• contremulus
• intremulus

Related words

• tremō
• tremor
• English tremulous

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 l m 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 e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de