ambages
English
Etymology
From Middle English ambages, from Old French ambages (modern French ambages), from Latin ambāges, from ambi- + agere (“to drive”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈam.bɪ.d͡ʒɪz/
Noun
ambages pl (plural only)
- (archaic) Indirect or roundabout ways of talking; circumlocution.
- 1632, Vicar's Virgil
- Thus from her cell Cumæan Sibyl sings / Ambiguous ambages, the cloyster rings / With the shrill sound thereof, in most dark strains.
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970, page 169:
- Having thus briefly anatomized the body and soul of man, […] I may now freely proceed to treat of my intended subject, to most men's capacity; and after many ambages, perspicuously define what this melancholy is […].
- 1632, Vicar's Virgil
- (archaic) Indirect or roundabout routes or directions.
- 1993, Anthony Burgess, A Dead Man In Deptford:
- Paris put fear into him, a city of monstrous size to which London was but a market town. Its ambages of streets bewildered.
- 1993, Anthony Burgess, A Dead Man In Deptford:
Related terms
- ambiguous
Translations
indirect or roundabout ways of talking — see circumlocution
indirect or roundabout routes or directions
French
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Noun
ambages
- plural of ambage
Latin
Etymology
From ambi- (“both”) + agō (“I drive”) + -ēs (noun forming suffix).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /amˈbaː.ɡeːs/, [ämˈbäːɡeːs̠]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /amˈba.d͡ʒes/, [ämˈbäːd͡ʒes]
Noun
ambāgēs f (genitive ambāgis); third declension
- circuit (roundabout way)
- long story
- circumlocution, evasion, digression
- ambiguity
Declension
Third-declension noun.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ambāgēs | ambāgēs |
| Genitive | ambāgis | ambāgum |
| Dative | ambāgī | ambāgibus |
| Accusative | ambāgem | ambāgēs |
| Ablative | ambāge | ambāgibus |
| Vocative | ambāgēs | ambāgēs |
Descendants
- Catalan: ambages
- Corsican: ambacu
- Old French: ambages
- French: ambages
- → English: ambages
- Galician: ambaxes
- Italian: ambage
- → Polish: ambaje (learned)
- Portuguese: ambages
- Spanish: ambages
References
- “ambages”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “ambages”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- ambages 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)
- ambages in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- to speak without circumlocution: missis ambagibus dicere
- to speak without circumlocution: missis ambagibus dicere
Old French
Etymology
Circa 1355, borrowed from Latin ambāges.
Noun
ambages m pl
- circumlocution, ambages (indirect or roundabout ways of talking)
Descendants
- → English: ambages
- French: ambages
Spanish
Etymology
From Latin ambāges.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /amˈbaxes/ [ãmˈba.xes]
- Rhymes: -axes
- Syllabification: am‧ba‧ges
Noun
ambages m pl (plural only)
- circumlocution, ambages (indirect or roundabout ways of talking)
- Synonyms: circunlocución, circunloquios
- 2020 September 6, “Johnson prepara a los británicos para un Brexit duro a finales de año”, in El País:
- Pero en esta ocasión, todos los actores reconocen que el Gobierno de Johnson comienza a mostrar sin ambages sus verdaderas cartas, y que ya no disimula su objetivo final de abandonar con las menores ataduras posibles su relación con la UE.
- But on this occasion, all the actors recognize that the Johnson government is beginning to [unambiguously] show its true colors, and that it no longer hides its final objective of ending its relationship with the EU with as few ties as possible.
- (rare) ambages (indirect or roundabout routes or directions)
- Synonym: rodeos
Derived terms
- andar con ambages
- ambagioso
Further reading
- “ambages”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014