elinguis Latin · revision 35819

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=220–130 BC, Pacuvius|origins=la lingua}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [eːˈlɪŋ.ɡʷɪs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [eˈliŋ.ɡʷis]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ēlinguis''' (neuter ēlingue); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|ex-|lingua|-is|t2=tongue]], “without a tongue”.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) [[m|la|lingua]] goes back to [[ine-pro|*dnǵh-uh2|t=tongue]], with its /l/ taken from [[m|la|lingō|t=to lick]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its first use is in a tragedy of Pacuvius, “either stupid or speechless”,^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) where it means unable to speak.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The common sense was “speechless”, of someone who cannot or dare not speak, often joined with ''mūtus'': Cicero speaks of reducing someone to silence, and Livy and Gellius pair it with ''mūtus''.^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero also uses it of a speaker without eloquence, saying that Fannius was never thought tongue-tied in that sense.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) The literal “tongueless” is late, in Apuleius of the crocodile, Ausonius and Cassiodorus.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) The TLL notes a variant ''ēlinguus'' of the second declension.^(TLL)

+

+ Medieval writers used it for the dumb or speechless, as in Peter Damian of a paralysed bishop.^(MLW)^(DMLBS) Old English glosses render it as “speechless, dumb”.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it of a person unable to speak.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a speechless witness and of a speaker without eloquence.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius calls the crocodile tongueless.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius uses it in its literal sense.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Having no [[m|en|tongue]], tongueless.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # [[m|en|speechless|alt=Speechless]], unable to speak (especially from fear or embarrassment); [[m|en|mute]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # Lacking [[m|en|eloquence]], inarticulate.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ēlinguō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}