aliquotiens

Forms

aliquotiēns (not comparable)^[1] Also spelled aliquotiēs;^[2] the TLL finds that spelling well attested only in one inscription.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ali- + quotiēns (“how many times, as often as”),^[2][3][1] with the stem ⟨ali-⟩ of alius (“other”);^[2] the grammarian Priscian derived it from aliquot (“several”).^[3] De Vaan lists quotiēns among the derivatives of quot (“how many”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *kʷoti and Proto-Indo-European *kʷe/o-ti (“how many”).^[4] He takes the stem ⟨ali-⟩ of words like aliquis as shortened from that pronoun or as a quick-speech form.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first example is from Cato's book on farming: id aliquotiens in die cotidie facito, “do this several times a day, every day”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It always means a number of times, several times.^[2] Cicero uses it in speeches and letters, and Varro, Sallust, Nepos and Livy have it often;^[3] Livy likes to answer it with ad ultimum, postrēmō or tandem, “several times …, at last”.^[3] It continues in Seneca, Quintilian, Suetonius and the Vulgate, and Ammianus Marcellinus uses it remarkably often, in almost ninety places, nearly in the sense of saepe, “often”.^[3] Augustine has it several times in the City of God.^[3]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it in his book on farming.^[3][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in speeches and letters.^[3][5][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it often.^[3][6]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it nearly ninety times.^[3][6]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it in the City of God.^[3][6]

Meanings

Adverb

1. A number of times, several times; in Ammianus almost often.^[2][3][5]

Related words

• aliquot
• quotiēns
• totiēns

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 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 c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de