abhinc

Forms

abhinc (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ab- + hinc (“from here”).^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first,^[3] in the sense “ago”: “this happened about two years ago”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its usual sense is “ago”, counting back from the present, with an accusative or ablative of time: Terence has about ten months ago, Cicero “you were quaestor fourteen years ago”, and Horace a writer who died a hundred years ago.^[2][4] Lewis & Short note that apart from the comic poets it is most frequent in Cicero, in his speeches and letters.^[4] Pacuvius has it of the future, “from now on”, and Palladius and Symmachus use it so later.^[2][5] Lucretius has aufer abhinc lacrimas, “away with your tears”, which the OLD and Georges read as “from here”;^[2][5] Lewis & Short think it only a fuller form of hinc.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, “ago”.^[2][3]
• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius, “from now on”.^[2][3]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius, “away from here”.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, “ago”, in speeches and letters.^[2][4][3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Counting back from the present, ago, since.^[2][4][1]
2. From now on, henceforth.^[2][5][1]
3. From this place, hence.^[2][5]

Related words

• hinc
• dehinc
• exhinc

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 k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn