affatim

Forms

affatim (not comparable)^[1] Also written adfatim and ad fatim.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a univerbation of ad (“to”) and ⟨fatim⟩, “to one's fill”, from a noun Proto-Italic *fati- (“exhaustion”) that survives only in this word.^[4][2][1] The same noun underlies fatīgō (“to tire out”), fatīscō (“to split open; to grow weary”) and fessus (“tired”).^[4][2] Köbler compares a root Proto-Indo-European *dʰē- (“to dwindle”).^[5]

Ancient grammarians knew a simple ⟨fatim⟩: Servius explains it as “abundantly”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first example is a line of Livius Andronicus, quoted by Festus, which renders a line of the Odyssey: adfatim edī, bibī, lūsī, “I have eaten, drunk and played to my fill”.^[3][4][6]

Semantic evolution

Plautus has it in all its uses: as an adverb, usque adfatim “right up to one's fill”; as a quasi-noun with a genitive, dīvitiārum adfatim est “there is plenty of riches”; and as a quasi-adjective, miseria ūna ūnī quidem hominī est adfatim, “one misery is quite enough for one man”.^[3][2] Cicero, Sallust, Livy and Pliny the Elder use it, Livy also with a genitive (pecūniae affatim est).^[3][2][6] According to Festus, Terence used it in the sense “to weariness, to satiety”.^[3] In later Latin it is placed before adjectives, as in Apuleius' affatim onustus, “amply loaded”.^[3][6]

Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for “sufficiently, completely”.^[7]

Timeline

• 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses adfatim “to one's fill”.^[3][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it as an adverb, a quasi-noun and a quasi-adjective.^[2][3][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy writes pecūniae affatim est “there is money enough”.^[2][5]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius places it before an adjective.^[3][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Amply, sufficiently, to one's fill.^[2][3]
2. As a quasi-noun with a genitive: an ample supply, plenty.^[2][3]
3. As a quasi-adjective: sufficient, enough; numerous enough.^[2][3]
4. (Late Latin, before an adjective) Quite, abundantly.^[3][6]

Related words

• fatīgō
• fatīscō
• fessus

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes it from satis, which states a sufficient measure, while affatim and abunde suggest rather too much than too little;^[8][3] affatim is subjective, “as much as one wants”.^[8][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c 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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper