Etymologically
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aio

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈaj.joː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaː.jo][1]

Forms

aiō (present infinitive aiere, perfect active ait); third (-iō variant) conjugation, highly defective, no passive, no supine stem, no gerund[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *agje/o-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵ-ye/o- (“to say”).[2][1] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἠμί (ēmí, “I say”), Old Armenian ասեմ (asem, “to say”) and Tocharian A āks- (“to proclaim”).[2][3] Greek, Armenian and Tocharian point to a root *h₁ǵ- or *h₂ǵ-, generally kept apart from *h₂eǵ- “to drive”.[2] Originally there was only a present; the third person ait could be taken as a perfect, whence aistī.[2] De Vaan thinks adagium “proverb” is unlikely to belong here.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Naevius, where someone is told to say yes or no.[2][3] Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It was a defective verb, used mainly in āiō, ais, ait, āiunt and the imperfect aiēbam.[3][5] It meant to say yes, as Terence's negat quis: negō; ait: āiō and Cicero's Diogenes who says yes while Antipater says no.[3][6] Ain? meant “really? you don't say?”, and quid ais? “what do you say?”.[3] With an object it meant to affirm, assert, and it introduced direct speech, “he said”, or quoted a source, ut aiunt “as they say”.[3] In law it meant to lay down, as ait lēx in Ulpian.[3]

In Medieval Latin ait remained the common way to introduce speech.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.[3][4]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it in the sense “to say yes”.[3][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.[6][4]
  • before 223 AD – Ulpian uses ait lēx.[3][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To say yes.[3]
  2. ain?: really? indeed?[3]
  3. To affirm, assert, say.[3]
  4. ut ait: as he says.[3]
  5. (introducing speech) He said.[3]
  6. quid ais?: what do you say?[3]
  7. (of a law) To lay down, prescribe.[3]

Word family

  • adā̆giō
  • adā̆gium
  • aientia

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ 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