English
declaim
Declaim comes from Latin dēclāmō ‘to practise speaking, declaim, make speeches’, from clāmō ‘cry out, call’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- ‘to shout’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kelh₁-‘to shout’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEclāmō‘cry out, call’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēclāmō‘to practise speaking, declaim, make speeches’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600declamer
- Englishearliest quotation 1834–1874declaim
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kelh₁-‘to shout’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEclāmō‘cry out, call’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēclāmō‘to practise speaking, declaim, make speeches’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600declamer
- Englishearliest quotation 1834–1874declaim
Earliest quotation: 1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States: “Grenville seized the opportunity to declaim on the repeal…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- ‘to shout’
low, hell, clear, classic, calendar, haul, reconciliation, clarity, reconcile, claire, clarification, classify, squeal, clarinet, clarion, reclaim, irreconcilable, claret, conciliar, ecclesiastic, clas, ecclesial, 32 more
through Latin clāmō ‘cry out, call’
proclamation, exclamation, reclamation, proclaim, acclaim, claimant, clamour, clamor, exclaim, 6 more
Today it means
verb To recite, e.g., poetry, in a theatrical way; to speak for rhetorical display; to speak pompously, noisily, or theatrically; bemouth; to make an empty speech; to rehearse trite arguments in debate; to rant.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- / declaim