Etymologically
Log in

absolute

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 23 October 2026 at 12:08. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

absolūtē (comparative absolūtius, superlative absolūtissimē)[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin absolūtus (“complete, finished”) + -ē, the adverb of the adjective that grew out of the past participle of absolvō (“to set free; to complete”).[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero.[4] The OLD's earliest quotation, from the Rhetorica ad Herennium, has the superlative absolūtissimē: we should use the five parts of an argument as completely as possible.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is completeness and perfection: Cicero holds that all wise men always live happily, perfectly and fortunately, and that an untroubled mind makes men perfectly happy, and Suetonius contrasts a man taken to be thoroughly learned with one only moderately so.[2][5] Seneca uses it for doing something without qualification: we want nothing freely, nothing absolutely, nothing for ever.[2] So Pliny the Elder says that only three works of art carry the plain signature “so-and-so made it”, and the jurists use it of a gift or an answer given without conditions.[2][5] Grammarians such as Priscian call a transitive verb used without an object “absolute”.[5]

Late writers such as Cassiodorus and Jordanes kept it,[6] and Justinian's Code orders something plainly and absolutely.[6] Medieval writers used it for “completely”, “unconditionally” and as a grammatical term.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a perfect, complete life.[2][4]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of acting without qualification.[2][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a plain artist's signature.[2][4]
  • 528–534 AD – Justinian's Code uses it of a categorical order.[6][4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Completely, perfectly, fully.[2][3][1]
  2. Without qualification, simply, unconditionally.[2][5][7]
  3. (grammar) Without a case, absolutely (of a verb used without an object).[5][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press