balbus

balbus, a, um, adj. [kindr. with balo; cf. Sanscr. barh, barrire, and barbarus],

I stammering , stuttering (opp. planus, speaking fluently, without impediment): balba, loqui non quit? τραυλίζει, 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.