languor

languor

English

WOTD – 12 July 2020

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlæŋɡə/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlæŋ(ɡ)ɚ/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æŋɡə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: lan‧guor

Etymology 1

The noun is derived from Middle English langore, langour (“disease, illness; misery, sadness; suffering; condition or event causing sadness, suffering, etc.; unwholesomeness; idleness, inertia; depression, self-disgust; expression of grief”) [and other forms],[1] from Middle French languer, langueur, langour, and Anglo-Norman langor, langour, langur, Old French langueur, languour (“disease, illness; suffering; emotional fatigue, sadness; listlessness; stagnation”) (modern French langueur (“languor”)), and from their etymon Latin languor (“faintness, feebleness; languor; apathy”), from languēre,[2] the present active infinitive of langueō (“to feel faint or weak; (figurative) to be idle, inactive; to be listless”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leg-, *(s)leh₁g-. The English word is cognate with Catalan llangor, Italian languore (“faintness, weakness; languor”), langore (obsolete), Old Occitan langor (modern Occitan langor), Portuguese langor, languor (obsolete), Spanish langor.[2]

Noun

languor (countable and uncountable, plural languors)

1. (uncountable) A state of the body or mind caused by exhaustion or disease and characterized by a languid or weary feeling; lassitude; (countable) an instance of this.

   Synonym: torpor

   languor of convalescence

   • 1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, OCLC 830979744, pages 101–102:

     Sometimes my pulse beat so quickly and hardly, that I felt the palpitation of every artery; at others, I nearly sank to the ground through languor and extreme weakness.

2. (uncountable) Melancholy caused by lovesickness, sadness, etc.; (countable) an instance of this.
3. (uncountable) Dullness, sluggishness; lack of vigour; stagnation.
   • 1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter VI, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume III, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, OCLC 830979744, page 120:

     I rushed towards her, and embraced her with ardour; but the deathly languor and coldness of the limbs told me, that what I now held in my arms had ceased to be the Elizabeth whom I had loved and cherished.

   • 1923, Elinor Wylie, “The Serpent in Persepolis”, in Jennifer Lorn: A Sedate Extravaganza. […], New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, OCLC 22724091, book 3 (The Prince), page 266:

     From languor she passed to the lightest vivacity; her temper became merry and wild in the extreme; she was all at once a tease, a tomboy, and a witch.

4. (uncountable) Listless indolence or inactivity, especially if enjoyable or relaxing; dreaminess; (countable) an instance of this.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), OCLC 630079698, pages 1–2:

     It is earth's brief breathing space, after the heat and hurry of her busier time; like that repose known only to the young and happy, when the nerves gradually compose themselves, the thoughts gather into some vague but delicious train, and the eyes are closed by languor before sleep.

   • 1945, Evelyn Waugh, chapter 4, in Brideshead Revisited […], 3rd edition, London: Chapman & Hall, OCLC 54130892, book 1 (Et in Arcadia Ego), pages 70–71:

     The languor of Youth—how unique and quintessential it is! How quickly, how irrecoverably lost! The zest, the generous affections, the illusions, the despair, all the traditional attributes of Youth—all save this—come and go with us through life; [...] but languor—the relaxation of yet unwearied sinews, the mind sequestered and self-regarding, the sun standing still in the heavens and the earth throbbing to our own pulse—that belongs to Youth alone and dies with it.

   • 1984, Marco Vassi, Lying Down: A Horizontal Worldview, Santa Barbara, Calif.: Capra Press, →ISBN, page 65:

     Repose! The very word has a nostalgic ring to it, conjuring up a vanished world of pale solitude, gentle distances, summer vistas, languour, and lovely women …

5. (uncountable) Heavy humidity and stillness of the air.
   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 21345056, pages 113–114:

     There is a languor in the air which encourages your own, and the poetry of memory is in every drooping flower and falling leaf.

   • 1957, James Purdy, The New Yorker, volume 33, New York, N.Y.: New Yorker Magazine Inc., ISSN 0028-792X, OCLC 243417341, page clxvi:

     [A] certain languor in the air hinted at an early summer.

   • 2018, Georges Simenon, William Hobson, transl., Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses‎, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN:

     The evening was mild, with a certain languor in the air.

6. (uncountable, obsolete) Sorrow; suffering; also, enfeebling disease or illness; (countable, obsolete) an instance of this.

Alternative forms

• languour

Related terms

• languid
• languidly
• languidness
• languish
• languished (adjective)
• languisher
• languishingly
• languishing (noun)
• languishment
• languorous
• languorously

 

Translations

state of the body or mind caused by exhaustion or disease and characterized by a languid feeling; an instance of this — See also translations at lassitude

Bulgarian: отпуснатост (bg) (otpusnatost), апатия (bg) f (apatija) Dutch: loomheid (nl) Esperanto: langvoro French: langueur (fr) German: einschläfernde Stille Italian: languore (it) Maori: maiarohea, tīrohea Romanian: langoare f, moleșeală (ro) f Russian: вя́лость (ru) f (vjálostʹ), исто́ма (ru) f (istóma), томле́ние (ru) n (tomlénije) Spanish: languidez (es) f, languor m

melancholy caused by lovesickness, sadness, etc.; an instance of this

dullness, sluggishness; lack of vigour; stagnation

Irish: leisce f

listless indolence or inactivity — See also translations at dreaminess

Bulgarian: разнеженост (bg) f (razneženost)

heavy humidity and stillness of the air

Etymology 2

The verb is derived from Middle English langouren (“to be ill; to languish, suffer; to cause to suffer”) [and other forms],[3] from Anglo-Norman langurer and Middle French langorer, langorir, langourer (“to languish; to be languorous”), from Old French languerer, from langueur (“disease, illness; suffering; emotional fatigue, sadness; listlessness; stagnation”); see further at etymology 1 above. Later uses of the verb have been influenced by the noun.[4]

Verb

languor (third-person singular simple present languors, present participle languoring, simple past and past participle languored)

1. (intransitive) To languish.

Derived terms

• languoring (adjective)
• languoring (noun) (obsolete)
• languorment (obsolete)

Translations

to languish — see languish

References

1. “langǒur, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
2. “languor, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2008; “languor, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
3. “langǒuren, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
4. “languor, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2008.

Further reading

• languor in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• languor in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• languor at OneLook Dictionary Search

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Latin

Etymology

From langueō (“to be faint, weary, languid”) +‎ -or.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈlan.ɡʷor/, [ˈɫ̪äŋɡʷɔr]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈlan.ɡwor/, [ˈläŋɡwor]

Noun

languor m (genitive languōris); third declension

1. faintness, feebleness, languor, apathy

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	languor	languōrēs
Genitive	languōris	languōrum
Dative	languōrī	languōribus
Accusative	languōrem	languōrēs
Ablative	languōre	languōribus
Vocative	languor	languōrēs

Descendants

• Albanian: lëngjyrë
• Aromanian: lãngoari
• English: languor
• French: langueur
• Italian: languore
• Portuguese: langor
• Romanian: lingoare
• Spanish: languor

References

• “languor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “languor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• languor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to abandon oneself to inactivity and apathy: desidiae et languori se dedere
    
  • to weary, bore the reader: languorem, molestiam legentium animis afferre
    

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Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin languor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lanˈɡwoɾ/ [lãŋˈɡwoɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: lan‧guor

Noun

languor m (plural languores)

1. (rare) languor

Related terms

• lánguido

Further reading

• “languor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014