-e

Forms

-ē (comparative -ius, superlative -issimē)^[1]

Etymology

The suffix is inherited from Proto-Italic *-ēd, Old Latin ⟨-ēd⟩,^[1][2] seen in ⟨facilumed⟩ and ⟨rected⟩,^[3] and shared with Sabellic: Oscan amprufid answers to improbē and Umbrian rehte to rēctē.^[2][4] Wiktionary calls it probably a combination of Proto-Indo-European suffixes, morphologically opaque, and compares perhaps Proto-Germanic *-ê and Proto-Slavic *-ě, which are themselves of disputed derivation.^[1]

Its further origin is disputed.^[2][4] Weiss allows an ablauting form of the ablative -ōd, or an old instrumental with secondary /d/.^[2] Sihler thinks the ablative explanation less likely than an instrumental *-eH₁ contaminated by the ablative /d/,^[4] and Fortson likewise derives it from an instrumental *-e-h₁ that took the dental of the ablative.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus already has male “badly”.^[3] Weiss's older form ⟨facilumed⟩, “very easily”, comes from the Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus, which he dates to 186 BC.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the regular adverb suffix of adjectives in -us, -a, -um.^[3][2] The frequent iambic words bene and male shortened the vowel.^[3][2] Adverbs in -ē from adjectives in -eus are vanishingly rare.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses bene and male.^[3][6]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses rēctē for “in a straight line”.^[3][6]
• 186 BC – The Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus has ⟨facilumed⟩.^[2]

Meanings

Suffix

1. Forms adverbs from adjectives of the second and first declensions: rēctē, bene, male.^[3][1]

Word family

• rēctē
• bene
• male
• improbē
• facile

Usage notes

Old inscriptions print the vowel with final -d: ⟨facilumed⟩ in CIL 1.581 and ⟨rected⟩ in CIL 1.365, from Falerii.^[3] Adverbs of third-declension adjectives take -ter² instead.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Weiss, Michael (2020), Outline of the Historical and Comparative Grammar of Latin, 2nd ed., Ann Arbor: Beech Stave
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Sihler, Andrew L. (1995), New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, New York: OUP
5. ^ Fortson, Benjamin W., IV (2010), Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction, 2nd ed., Malden, MA / Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de