Etymologically
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acervatim

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [a.kɛrˈwaː.tĩː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [a.t͡ʃerˈvaː.tim][1]

Forms

acervātim (not comparable)[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin acervō (“to heap up”) + -im according to the OLD;[2] Wiktionary instead analyses it as acervus (“heap, pile”) with the suffix -ātim.[1] De Vaan calls the etymology of that noun uncertain: Rix connects it with acus (“awn, chaff”) through a form ⟨*akesuo-⟩, which de Vaan finds formally conceivable but a guess in meaning.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears in the 1st century BC: Lucretius writes that death heaped up the crowded bodies in piles,[4] and Varro advises that dung be spread over the field and not left in heaps.[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is in heaps or piles,[2][4] as in Columella and Pliny the Elder.[2] The Bellum Alexandrinum says that most of the Alexandrians threw themselves from the rampart in a mass,[2][4] and Tacitus that many were accused of treason all together.[6] Cicero, in the Orator, uses it of style, of not piling up many words in one period,[2] and Wiktionary gives a figurative sense “briefly, concisely”.[1] Apuleius has it of blows rained on someone in great numbers.[2]

Christian writers kept it: Lactantius mocks the worship of minor gods in heaps,[6] and the Vulgate has it of falling in heaps.[4]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the dead piled up in heaps.[4][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of words piled up in a speech.[2][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro advises against leaving dung in heaps.[2][4][5]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of many accused together.[6][5]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of blows rained in quantity.[2][5]
  • c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius uses it of the worship of minor gods.[6][5]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. In heaps or piles.[2][4]
  2. In large quantities, profusely.[2]
  3. In a disorderly mass, all together;[2] in a summary manner, briefly.[2][1]

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 m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften