lingua Latin · revision 3088

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Twelve Tables|origins=ine-pro *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈlɪŋ.ɡʷa]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈliŋ.ɡʷa]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lingua''' ''f'' (genitive linguae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ An older form ''dingua'' is recorded by Marius Victorinus.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*dn̥χ(u)wā-]], [[inh|ine-pro|*dn̥ǵʰ-uh₂|t=tongue]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) The old form [[m|la|dingua]] took its /l/ from [[lingo|alt=lingō]] “to lick”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Cognate with [[osc|fangvam|t=tongue]],^(de Vaan 2008) and further with [[sga|tengae|t=tongue]], [[sa|जिह्वा|tr=jihvā́|t=tongue]], [[got|𐍄𐌿𐌲𐌲𐍉|tr=tuggō|t=tongue]] and [[en|tongue]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It appears in the Laws of the Twelve Tables.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) In Plautus a miser threatens, “I'll cut out her tongue and dig out her eyes”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant the [[m|en|tongue]] and the tongue as the organ of speech, as Plautus' ''libera lingua'' “a free tongue” and Terence's “my tongue sticks with fear”.^(OLD 2012) It meant speech and eloquence, as Cicero's teacher “not only of speech but of mind and virtue”, and a language or dialect, as Plautus' man who “knows all languages”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Things shaped like tongues took the name: plants, and a tongue of land, as in Pacuvius and Livy.^(OLD 2012) Medieval Latin used it for the clapper of a bell and for a nation,^(Niermeyer 1976) and organ builders for parts of an organ.^(LmL) It survives as Romanian ''limbă'', Italian ''lingua'', French ''langue'' and Portuguese ''língua''.^(Wiktionary) English ''language'' came through Old French from a Vulgar Latin derivative.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use it.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for the tongue and for languages.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it for a tongue of land.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for speech and eloquence.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * late 13th century – English ''language'' is first recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|tongue]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # The tongue as organ of speech.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Speech, eloquence; an utterance.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|language]], dialect.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A tongue of land.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The clapper of a bell.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A nation.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bilinguis]]

+ * [[ēlinguis]]

+ * [[ēlinguō]]

+ * [[ligula]]

+ * [[ligusticus]]

+ * [[linguārium]]

+ * [[linguātus]]

+ * [[linguāx]]

+ * [[linguōsus]]

+ * [[trilinguis]]

+ * [[bisulcilingua]]

+ * [[linguālis]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[lingō]]

+ * [[en|language]]

+ * [[en|linguist]]

+ * [[en|tongue]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein distinguishes ''lingua'', the speech of any people, however uncultivated, from ''sermo'', the speech of a cultivated people.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}