taceo

From Proto-Italic *takēō, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *tak- or *tHk-. Akin to Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (þahan), Old Norse þegja (Danish tie and Icelandic þegja), Old High German dagen.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈta.ke.oː/, [ˈt̪äkeoː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈta.t͡ʃe.o/, [ˈt̪äːt͡ʃeo]

taceō (present infinitive tacēre, perfect active tacuī, supine tacitum); second conjugation

1. (intransitive) to be silent, say nothing, shut up, hold one's tongue

   Synonyms: sileō, conticēscō

   Aut tacē aut face.

   Either shut up or do [it].

   • c. 190 BCE, Plautus, Curculio 5.3.5:

     Nōn tacēs? - Nōn taceō!^[1]

     Hold your tongue, will you? - I will not!^[2]

2. (intransitive) to be still or at rest

   Synonyms: conquiēscō, conticēscō, sileō, cessō

3. (transitive) to leave unsaid, keep quiet, pass over or omit in silence, make no mention of

   Synonyms: sileō, conticēscō

   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 1.17:

     Tum demum Liscus oratione Caesaris adductus quod antea tacuerat proponit.

     Then at length Liscus, moved by Caesar’s speech, discloses what he had hitherto kept secret.

   • 9 CE, Ovid, The Ibis 9–10:

     Quisquis is est—nam nōmen adhūc utcumque tacēbō—
         cōgit inassuētās sūmere tēla manūs.

     Whoever he is, for the name I am still going to omit,
         he forces my unaccustomed hands to take weapons.

• tacitulus
• taciturnitās
• taciturnus

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