balbus

See also: Balbus

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *balb-, *balbal- (“tongue-tied”). Cognate with Ancient Greek βαμβαίνω (bambaínō), βαμβαλύζω (bambalúzō, “I chatter with the teeth”), Russian болтать (boltatʹ, “to chatter, babble”), Lithuanian balbė́ti (“to talk, babble”), Sanskrit बल्बला (balbalā, “stammering”), Albanian belbët (“stammering”). See also bālō, blatiō, blaterō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈbal.bus/, [ˈbäɫ̪bʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈbal.bus/, [ˈbälbus]

Adjective

balbus (feminine balba, neuter balbum); first/second-declension adjective

1. stammering, stuttering
2. lisping
3. fumbling

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	balbus	balba	balbum		balbī	balbae	balba
Genitive	balbī	balbae	balbī		balbōrum	balbārum	balbōrum
Dative	balbō		balbō		balbīs
Accusative	balbum	balbam	balbum		balbōs	balbās	balba
Ablative	balbō	balbā	balbō		balbīs
Vocative	balbe	balba	balbum		balbī	balbae	balba

Derived terms

• balbucinor
• balbūtiēs
• balbūtiō

Descendants

• Catalan: balb
• Galician: bouba
• → Old Irish: balb
  • Irish: balbh
  • Manx: balloo
  • Scottish Gaelic: balbh
• Italian: balbo
• Portuguese: balbo
• Spanish: bobo
  • Portuguese: bobo

References

• “balbus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “balbus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• balbus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• balbus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “balbus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “balbus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray