vagitus Latin · revision 34327

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=96–55 BC, Lucretius|origins=la vāgiō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [waːˈɡiː.tʊs], [waːˈɡiː.tuːs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [vaˈd͡ʒiː.tus], [vaˈd͡ʒiː.tus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vāgītus''' ''m'' (genitive vāgītūs); fourth declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|vāgiō|-tus|t1=to cry, wail]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of [[m|la|vāgiō]], whose etymology he calls uncertain: he gives a doubtful reconstruction [[itc-pro|*wāg-ije/o-]] and, since the Greek and Gothic words for crying and sighing have a different stop, suggests a root [[ine-pro|*ueh2-|t=to cry]] enlarged in different ways in the different branches.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan records it first in Lucretius,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who says that every night hears laments mingled with ''vagitibus aegris'', “sickly wailing”, and has ''vagituque locum lugubri complet'', “and fills the place with mournful wailing”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The OLD defines it as a cry of distress, a wail or howl, above all of a baby.^(OLD 2012) Lewis and Short and Georges give it chiefly of the crying of small children, as in Virgil's voices and ''vagitus ingens'' heard at once with the weeping souls of infants, Ovid's and Quintilian's ''dare'' and ''edere vagitum'', and Pliny the Elder's ''vagitus et ploratus''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Ovid uses it of the bleating of young goats, and Lucretius and Celsus of a cry of pain.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Solinus calls it the first voice of the newborn, and Jerome speaks of the ''vagitus'' of infants.^(Georges 1913) English borrowed it in the 1650s for the crying of a newborn child.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of wailing.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil has ''vagitus ingens'' beside the weeping souls of infants.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of the bleating of young goats.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st half of the 3rd century AD – Solinus calls it the first voice of the newborn.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1650s – English borrows it as [[m|en|vagitus]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A cry of distress, a [[m|en|wail]], especially the [[m|en|crying]] of a baby.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # The [[m|en|bleat|alt=bleating]] of young goats.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A cry of [[m|en|pain]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|vagitus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}