Latin

Verb

calumnior ‎(present infinitive calumniārī, perfect active calumniātus sum); first conjugation, deponent

1. I depreciate, misrepresent, cavil at, calumniate, blame unjustly, blackmail

   calumniare audacter, quia semper aliquid adhæret.
   Slander boldly, for something always sticks. – Johannes Jacobus Manlius, Locorum Communium Collectanea, page 393 (1562)

   Manlius paraphrases Plutarch, who says the following about Medios of Larissa:

   ἐκέλευεν οὖν θαρροῦντας ἅπτεσθαι καὶ δάκνειν ταῖς διαβολαῖς, διδάσκων ὅτι, κἂν θεραπεύσῃ τὸ ἕλκος ὁ δεδηγμένος, ἡ οὐλὴ μένει τῆς διαβολῆς.
   He [Medios] urged people to boldly hold fast and sink in their teeth with their slanders, teaching that even if the bitten may heal the wound, the scar of the slanders remains. – Plut. Adulator, page 17r (c. 100 AD)

2. I contrive tricks, intrigue.
3. (law) I accuse falsely, bring false information against someone.
4. (law) I practise legal chicanery, trickery, or subterfuge.

Inflection

Derived terms

• calumniātor

Related terms

• calumnia
• calumniātrīx
• calumniōsē
• calumniōsus

Descendants

References

• calumnior in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• calumnior in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “calumnior”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.