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The corpus record — Latin

blandus

blandus

charming, seductive

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Densest 12 of 142 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. blandus — de Vaan

blandus 'charming, seductive' [adj. o/a] (Naev.+) Derivatives: blandiri 'to flatter' (P1.+), blandimentum 'cajolery' (P1.+). Uncertain etymology. The connection with mollis 'weak', suggested by WH and IEW, is phonetically impossible. Others have connect Gr. μαλακός 'soft' and Olr. — [de Vaan, s.v. blandus, p. 87]

2. blandus — Lewis & Short

blandus, a, um, adj.for mlandus; akin to mei/lixos, mollis, mulier; Goth. milds; Engl. mild,

I of a smooth tongue, flattering, fawning, caressing (class and very freq.).
I Lit.: blanda es parum, Plaut. Cas. 3, 3, 21: nemini credo qui large blandu'st dives pauperi, id. Aul. 2, 2, 19: ut unus omnium homo te vivat numquam quisquam blandior, Ter. Hec. 5, 4, 21: scis me minime esse blandum, Cic. Att. 12, 5, 4: unum te puto minus blandum esse quam me, id. ib. 12, 3, 1: blandum amicum a vero secernere, id. Lael. 25, 95: (Alcibiades) affabilis, blandus, temporibus callidissime inserviens, Nep. Alcib. 1, 3: an blandiores (mulieres) in publico quam in privato et alienis quam vestris estis? Liv. 34, 2, 10: tum neque subjectus solito nec blandior esto, Ov. A. A. 2, 411: canes, Verg. G. 3, 496: catulorum blanda propago, Lucr. 4, 999; Nemes. Cyneg. 215; 230: columba, Ov. Am. 2, 6, 56: tigres, Claud. IV. Cons. Hon. 604; Quint. 9, 4, 133; 11, 1, 30; 11, 3, 72 al.—
b Poet. constr.
(a) With gen.: precum, Stat. Achill. 2, 237.—
(b) With acc.: genas vocemque, Stat. Th. 9, 155.—
(g) With inf.: blandum et auritas fidibus canoris Ducere quercus, Hor. C. 1, 12, 11; Stat. Th. 5, 456. —
(d) With abl.: chorus implorat. .doctā prece blandus ( = blande supplicans dis carmine quod poëta eum docuit. Orell. ad loc.), Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 135.—
II Trop. (mostly of things).
A Flattering, pleasant, agreeable, enticing, alluring, charming, seductive (cf. blandior, II. B.; blanditia, II.): blandā voce vocare, Enn. ap. Cic. Div. 1, 20, 40 (Ann. v. 51 Vahl.): ne blandā aut supplici oratione fallamur, Cic. Phil. 7, 9, 26; Lucr. 6, 1245: voces, Verg. A. 1, 670; Cat. 64, 139: preces, Tib. 3, 6, 46; Hor. C. 4, 1, 8; id. A. P. 395; Ov. M. 10, 642: querelae, Tib. 3, 4, 75: laudes, Verg. G. 3, 185: verba, Ov. M. 2, 575; 6, 360: dicta, id. ib. 3, 375; 9, 156: os, id. ib. 13, 555: pectus, Afran. ap. Non. p. 515.—So, voluptas, Lucr. 2, 966; 4, 1081; 4, 1259; 5, 179; Cic. Tusc. 4, 3, 6: amor, Lucr. 1, 20; Ov. Tr. 1, 3, 49: Veneris blandis sub armis, Prop. 4 (5), 1, 137. amaracini liquor, Lucr. 2, 847: tura, Tib. 3, 3, 2: manus, Hor. C. 3, 23, 18; cf. Ov. M. 2, 691: aquae, id. ib. 4, 344: caudae, id. ib. 14, 258 al.: otium consuetudine in dies blandius, Liv. 23, 18, 12: blandiores suci, Plin. 12, 1, 2, § 4; Suet. Tib. 27: blandissima litora, Baiae, Stat. S. 3, 5, 96; Plin. 9, 8, 9, § 32: actio, Quint. 7, 4, 27: ministerium, Cod. Th. 10, 10, 12, § 1.— With dat.: et blandae superūm mortalibus irae, Stat. Th. 10, 836: neque admittunt orationes sermonesve... jucunda dictu aut legentibus blanda, Plin. 1, prooem. § 12.—
2 Of persons: filiolus, Quint. 6, prooem. § 8; cf.: nam et voluptates, blandissimae dominae (the most alluring mistresses), majores partes animi a virtute detorquent, Cic. Off. 2, 10, 37.—
B Persuading by caressing, persuasive: nunc experiemur, nostrum uter sit blandior, Plaut. Cas. 2, 3, 56. —Hence, adv., in three forms, soothingly, flatteringly, courteously, etc.
a Anteclass. form blandĭter, Plaut. As. 1, 3, 69; id. Ps. 5, 2, 3; Titin. ap. Non. p. 210, 6 (also id. ib. p. 256, 15), and ap. Prisc. p. 1010 P.—
b Class. form blandē, Plaut. Am. 1, 3, 9: compellare hominem, id. Poen. 3, 3, 72: me adpellare, id. Truc. 1, 2, 61: adloqui, Ter. Phorm. 2, 1, 22: dicere, id. Ad. 5, 4, 24; cf.: blande, leniter, dulciter dicere, Quint. 12, 10, 71; and blande ac benedice, Plaut. As. 1, 3, 54: rogare, Cic. Rosc. Com. 16, 49: excepti hospitio ab Tullo blande ac benigne, Liv. 1, 22, 5: quaerere, Suet. Calig. 32: linguā lambere, Lucr. 5, 1066: et satiati agni ludunt blandeque coruscant, id. 2, 320: colere fructus, to treat carefully, gently, id. 5, 1368 (cf. blandimentum, II. B.): flectere cardinem sonantem, softly, carefully, Quint. Decl. 1, 13 al.—Comp.: blandius petere, Cic. de Or. 1, 24, 112: ad aurem invocabat, Cael. ap. Quint. 4, 2, 124: moderere fidem, Hor. C. 1, 24, 13 al.—Sup.: blandissime appellat hominem, Cic. Clu. 26, 72.—*
c blandum = blande: ridere, Petr. 127, 1.

3. blandus — Walde–Hofmann

blandus, -a, -um „schmeichelnd, einschmeichelnd, liebkosend* (seit Enn. und Plaut., rom., ebenso -ulus seit Hadr., blandior, tus sum, -iri ,schmeichle*, -itia, -ae f. ,Schmeichelei*, beide seit Plt.): wohl mit Johansson KZ. 30. 441, Persson Ger. 754, Beitr. 930, Reichelt KZ. 46, 324f. als „mild, sanft, weich“ zur Sippe von mollis „weich“, Wz. *mel-d- (s. d.; vgl. z. B. blanda verba blaue. mit gr. uaAakà €mea, … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. blandus, p. 140]

In the wild

6 of 472 attestations shown.

Where it came from

  • de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. blandus (scan p. 87; entry #154).
  • Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. blandus (scan p. 95; entry #1270).
  • Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. blandus (scan pp. 140-141; entry #415). Root candidates: *mi-, *ghlàdh-, *ghlendh-.

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Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.