Etymologically
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turbulentus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [tʊr.bʊˈɫɛn.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [tur.buˈlɛn.tus][1]

Forms

turbulentus (feminine turbulenta, neuter turbulentum, superlative turbulentissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin turba (“commotion, crowd”) + -ulentus (“full of”).[2][1] The origin of turba is uncertain: de Vaan finds the usual link with Sanskrit त्वरते (tvarate, “hurries”) formally doubtful and considers a connection with Ancient Greek στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”),[3] while Wiktionary allows a borrowing from Ancient Greek τύρβη (túrbē, “disorder”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Plautus,[4] whose Miles gloriosus has Diana saving a man “in the regions of Neptune and his stormy precincts”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Of the sea and weather it is stormy or turbulent, and of water muddy, as in Phaedrus' “why have you made my water muddy as I drink?”[2] Cicero uses it of the confused, haphazard collision of atoms.[2] Figuratively it is used of times of unrest, of a mind disturbed by passion, of muddled thinking, and of unruly, riotous persons, as Cicero's “a seditious and turbulent citizen”, and their proceedings.[2][5]

Church Latin glosses it “troublesome”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of the stormy sea and of troubled affairs.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of atoms, of passions and of seditious citizens.[2][4]
  • c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus of muddied water.[2][4]
  • early 15th century – Borrowed into English as turbulent, through Old French.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Stormy, turbulent; of water, muddy; confused, haphazard.[2][5][1]
  2. Of times, full of unrest; of the mind, disturbed; muddled.[2][5]
  3. Of persons, unruly, riotous; seditious.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • turbulentia
  • turbulentō

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 j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com