demiror Latin · revision 36645

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la mīrus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [deːˈmiː.rɔr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [deˈmiː.ror]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''dēmīror''' (present infinitive dēmīrārī, perfect active dēmīrātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^(Wiktionary)

+ A late active form ''dēmīrō'' is found in the Latin translation of Theodore of Mopsuestia.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|dē-|mīror|t2=to wonder at]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014) That verb is derived from [[m|la|mīrus|t=wonderful]],^(de Vaan 2008) which goes back to [[itc-pro|*smeiro-]].^(de Vaan 2008) The usual connection with [[ine-pro|*smei-|t=to laugh]] is doubted on semantic grounds, as de Vaan reports.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL) with an indirect question: ''nimis dēmīror quī illaec … sciat'', “I wonder very much how this person knows those things”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Lewis and Short note that it is used mostly in the first person of the present and belongs to the language of conversation.^(Lewis & Short 1879) It meant to be utterly astonished at something, with an accusative or an accusative and infinitive: Plautus has ''eum dēmīror nōn venīre'', “I am surprised that he is not coming”, and Cicero ''spērāsse mē cōnsule assequī posse dēmīror'', “that you hoped to achieve it while I was consul amazes me”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Conte 2010) With an indirect question it meant to wonder how or why, as in Cicero's ''dēmīror cūr'', “I wonder why”.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ Gellius uses it with a personal object, of admiring someone's answer or audacity, and has ''multa dēmīranda'', “many things to be admired”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) Medieval writers used it of admiring, of being lost in wonder, and of being surprised.^(MLW)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it with an indirect question.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence uses it.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in speeches and letters.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of admiring.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To be utterly [[m|en|astonished]] at, wonder greatly at.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # To [[m|en|wonder]] (how, why, where), with an indirect question.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # To [[m|en|admire]].^(Gaffiot 2016)^(MLW)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}