admetior

Forms

admētior (present infinitive admētīrī, perfect active admēnsus sum); fourth conjugation, deponent^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- (“to”) + mētior (“to measure”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan explains mētior as made from a noun Proto-Italic *mēti-, from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-ti- (“measurement”).^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek μῆτις (mêtis, “wisdom, skill”) and Old English mǣd (“measure”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Cato's treatise on farming, of measuring out wine to buyers.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It means to measure out and hand over, chiefly of wine and grain.^[2][5] Cato uses it of the owner measuring out wine sold on the vine, Cicero in the Verrines of the people of Henna having to measure out grain, and Livy of grain measured out to the soldiers.^[3][6] Curtius uses it of free grain, and Suetonius of grain measured out to each man for nothing or at a very low price.^[3][6]

In the jurists it often has a passive sense, being measured out:^[2][3] Gaius holds that a sale of goods sold by measure, weight or number is complete only once they are measured, weighed or counted out, and Paulus uses it of a seller measuring out land to a buyer.^[2][3] Martianus Capella still uses the participle admensus.^[6]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of measuring out wine to buyers.^[3][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of grain measured out.^[3][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of grain for soldiers.^[3][7]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of grain handed out per head.^[3][7]
• 140–180 AD – Gaius uses it in a passive sense in the law of sale.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To measure out (to someone), dole out (wine, grain).^[2][6]
2. (passive sense, in the jurists) To be measured out.^[2][3]

Related words

• mētior
• mēnsūra

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de