[Greek] σιωπάω (siōpaō), [Latin] tacere, [Latin] silere, [Latin] quiescere, [French] reposer: to be silent, silent, to be still; Mt.20:31, Mt.26:63, Mk.3:4, Mk.4:39, Mk.9:34, Mk.10:48, Mk.14:61, Lk.1:20, Lk.18:39, Lk.19:40, Acts 18:9
St. Peter Martyr of Verona asking for silence: fresco by Fra. Angelico (1441). Yet he could not be silenced for speaking out as he was martyred.
Background information:
Greek Hellenism: This term mean to keep quiet, to hold one’s peace, to find rest, to calm oneself, and to impose a silence.
Plato: “To be sure I must; and therefore I may assume that your silence gives consent.”
Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus 980: “For I will not be silent, when you have gone so far in impious speech.”
Euripides’ The Suppliants 298: “No. I will not hold my peace to blame myself afterwards for having kept silence to my shame.”
Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound 329: “No, keep quiet and keep yourself clear of harm.”
Old Testament: This term means to consider, to be silent, to wait, to hush, to hold the tongue, to stop, and to conceal.