balbus

1.

balbus, a, um, adj. [kindr. with balo; cf. Sanscr. barh, barrire, and barbarus], stammering, stuttering (opp. planus, speaking fluently, without impediment): balba, loqui non quit? traulizei, does she ( the loved one ) stammer, can she not speak distinctly? ( then he says ) she lisps, Lucr. 4, 1164: Demosthenes cum ita balbus esset, ut ejus ipsius artis, cui studeret (sc. rhetoricae), primam litteram (sc. r ) non posset dicere, perfecit meditando, ut nemo planius esse locutus putaretur, Cic. de Or. 1, 61, 260;

and thus in ridicule,

id. Fam. 2, 10, 1:

os pueri,

Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 126:

senectus,

id. ib. 1, 20, 18; Dig. 21, 1, 10, § 5:

verba,

Tib. 2, 5, 94; Hor. S. 2, 3, 274:

balbā de nare loqui,

to speak through the nose, Pers. 1, 33.— Adv.: balbē, stammeringly, etc., Lucr. 5, 1021.—

2.

Transf., obscurely, Varr. ap. Non. p. 80, 7.

2.

Balbus, i, m., a Roman cognomen, Cic. Att. 8, 9, 4; id. Balb. passim; id. Cael. 11, 27; id. de Or. 3, 21, 78 al.