modulor Latin · revision 33636

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=ine-pro *med-o-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈmɔ.dʊ.ɫɔr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɔː.du.lor]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''modulor''' (present infinitive modulārī, perfect active modulātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^(Wiktionary)

+ An active ''modulō'' is also found.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|modulus|-ō|t1=small measure]],^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Etymonline) itself a diminutive of [[m|la|modus|t=measure]];^(Etymonline) Augustine derived it from [[m|la|modus]] directly.^(TLL) De Vaan traces [[m|la|modus]] to [[itc-pro|*medo-|t=measure, judgement]] and [[ine-pro|*med-o-|t=measure]].^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[xum|mers|t=law]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Cicero,^(OLD 2012) who writes that nature itself modulates the voice for the ears of men, ''hominum auribus vocem natura modulatur ipsa''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its main sense is to regulate sounds by the rules of melody, pitch and rhythm;^(OLD 2012) Cicero says nature put an acute accent in every word as though modulating human speech.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Of songs it is to sing or play, as in Virgil's “I will play the songs on the Sicilian shepherd's pipe”, and to set to music, of songs written on beech bark.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Livy has maidens beating time with their feet, and Horace words to be set to Latin strings.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Manilius uses it of putting into verse, and a poem in the Tibullan collection of playing the lyre with an ivory plectrum.^(OLD 2012) Vitruvius uses it intransitively of making music on an instrument.^(OLD 2012) In post-Augustan prose it is also to measure, as in Gellius, or to regulate, as in Pliny the Elder's ''ita modulante nātūrā'', “as nature regulates it”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Church Latin has it as to temper, regulate, mitigate or measure.^(Stelten 1995) English [[m|en|modulate]] (1610s) is from its participle.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, of nature modulating the voice.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil, of playing songs on a pipe.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of maidens beating time.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 165 AD – Gellius, of measuring.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1610s – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|modulate]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To regulate sounds by melody and rhythm, to [[m|en|modulate]];^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) to beat time.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To [[m|en|sing]] or play songs;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) to set to music;^(OLD 2012) to put into verse.^(OLD 2012)

+ # To play a musical instrument;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) intransitively, to make music.^(OLD 2012)

+ # To [[m|en|measure]];^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) to regulate, temper.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[modulātiō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[modulus]]

+ * [[modus]]

+ * [[moderor]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}