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.
