Institutio Oratoria

Quintilian

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, Volume 1-4. Butler, Harold Edgeworth, translator. Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., 1920-1922.

But those who collected such derivations in book form, put their names on the title page; and Gavius thought himself a perfect genius when he identified caelibes,

bachelors,

with caelites,

gods,

on the ground that they are free from a heavy load of care, and supported this opinion by a Greek analogy: for he asserted that ἠΐθεοι

young men,

had a precisely similar origin. Modestus is not his inferior in inventive power: for he asserts that caelibes, that is to say unmarried men, are so called because Saturn cut off the genital organs of Caelus. Aelius asserts that pituita,

phlegm,

is so called quia petat uitam, because it attacks life.

But we may pardon anyone after the example set by Varro. [*](de Lingua Lat. v. 34 and 76. ) For he tried to persuade Cicero, to whom he dedicated his work, that a field was called eager because something is done in it ( agitur ), and jackdaws graculos because they fly in flocks (gregatim ), in spite of the obvious fact that the first word is derived from the Greek, the latter from the cry of the bird in question.

But Varro had such a passion for derivations that he derived the name merula

a blackbird

from mera uolans on the ground that it flies alone! Some scholars do not hesitate to have recourse to etymology for the origin of every word, deriving names such as Rufus or Longus from the appearance of their possessor, verbs such as strepere or murmurare from the sounds which they represent, and even extending this practice to certain derivatives, making uelox for instance find its origin in uelocitas, [*]( The above makes Quintilian derive velox from velocitas, as Varro ( L.L. viii. 15) derives prudens from prudentia. Those who regard this as incredible must with Colson transpose ut. . . velox to follow Rufos making Velox a cognomen, or with Meister read velo for velocitate, or velo citato (Colson). ) as well as to compounds and the like: now although such words doubtless have an origin, no special science is

v1-3 p.131

required to detect it, since it is only doubtful cases that demand the intervention of the etymologist.

Archaic words not only enjoy the patronage of distinguished authors, but also give style a certain majesty and charm. For they have the authority of age behind them, and for the very reason that they have fallen into desuetude, produce an attractive effect not unlike that of novelty.

But such words must be used sparingly and must not thrust themselves upon our notice, since there is nothing more tiresome than affectation, nor above all must they be drawn from remote and forgotten ages: I refer to words such as topper,

quite,

antegerio,

exceedingly,

exanclare,

to exhaust,

prosapia,

a race

and the language of the Salian Hymns now scarcely understood by its own priests.