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Conclamaʹtio

,

amongst the ancient Romans, was similar to the Irish howl over the dead; and, as in Ireland, women led the funeral cortège, weeping ostentatiously and gesticulating. “One not howled over” (corpus nondum conclamaʹtum) meant one at the point of death; and “one howled for” was one given up for dead or really deceased. Virgil tells us that the ululation was a Phœnician custom; and therefore he makes the palace ring with howls when Dido burnt herself to death.

“Lamentis, gemituque, et fœmineo ululato,

Texta fremunt.”


Æneid, iv. 687.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Comus’s Court
Con Amore (Italian)
Con Commodo (Italian)
Con Spirito (Italian)
Conan
Concert Pitch
Concerto (Italian)
Concierge
Conciergerie
Conclave
Conclamatio
Conclamatum est
Concord is Strength
Concordat
Condign
Condottieri
Confederate States
Confederation of the Rhine
Confession
Confiscate
Confusion Worse Confounded