reticentia Latin · revision 36740

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *tHk-eh₁-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''reticentia''' ''f'' (genitive reticentiae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|reticēns|-ia|t1=keeping silent]], from the participle of [[m|la|reticeō|t=to keep silent]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014) De Vaan lists both among the derivatives of [[m|la|taceō|t=to be silent]], which he traces to [[itc-pro|*tak-ē-|t=to be silent]] and [[ine-pro|*tHk-eh₁-|t=to be silent]].^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[xum|tases|t=silent]], [[non|þegja]] and [[goh|thagēn]], “to be silent”.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) in the ''Mercator'': ''enicas me miserum tua reticentia'' (“you are killing me with your silence”).^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Pacuvius also has it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Cicero says that neither forgetfulness nor the silence of posterity could bury ''vestra virtus'' (“your courage”),^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879) and opposes it to speech;^(Georges 1913) in the ''De officiis'' he notes that jurists set a penalty for keeping silent about a defect in a thing sold.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ In rhetoric it named the figure of breaking off in mid-sentence, aposiopesis, in Cicero's ''De oratore'' and in Quintilian,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(OLD 2012) and also the device of pretending to pass over the very point one wants to stress.^(OLD 2012) In Ecclesiastical Latin it means “reticence, silence”.^(Stelten 1995) It survives in [[it|reticenza]] and [[fr|réticence]].^(Wiktionary)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of someone's silence.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it in a tragedy.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of keeping silent and of the figure aposiopesis.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian discusses the figure.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|silence|alt=Silence]], keeping silent, avoidance of speech.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(law)'' Keeping silent about what one ought to declare, such as a defect in a thing sold.^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(rhetoric)'' [[m|en|aposiopesis|alt=Aposiopesis]]; also [[m|en|paralipsis]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[it|reticenza]]

+ * [[fr|réticence]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}