tumultuor

Forms

tumultuor (present infinitive tumultuārī, perfect active tumultuātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^[1] Plautus also has active forms, tumultuō.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin tumultus (“commotion, uproar”) + -ō.^[2][1][3] De Vaan lists it with tumultus under tumeō “to swell”: the formation of that noun is unclear, but its meaning suggests that it belongs there; he traces tumeō to Proto-Italic *tum-ē- and Proto-Indo-European *tum-eh₁- (“to be swelling”), comparing Lithuanian tumė́ti (“to become thick”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[4] in whom a character says it is not fitting to make an uproar when public affairs are calm and the enemy killed.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to make a commotion or uproar: the Rhetorica ad Herennium has “at leisure you are in turmoil, in turmoil at leisure”.^[3] Quintilian uses it of teachers who rant without method.^[2] Of fighting it is to scrap in a disorderly way: Livy says the Romans had skirmished with the Gauls rather than waged war.^[2] Velleius has Pompeius swinging between commander and suppliant.^[2] Transitively Pliny the Elder writes that here we throw the human race into turmoil.^[2] Specifically it is to riot against public order, as of the Gracchi in Velleius.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of an uproar.^[2][4][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of skirmishing with the Gauls.^[2][5]
• c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius of the Gracchi.^[2][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of throwing mankind into turmoil.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make a commotion or uproar, be in confusion; of an orator, to rant.^[2][3][1]
2. To fight in a disorderly way, skirmish; to waver between extremes.^[2]
3. To throw into commotion.^[2]
4. To make a disturbance against public order, riot.^[2]

Related words

• tumultus
• tumeō

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 j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de