aliter

Forms

aliter (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin alius (“other”) + -ter.^[2][1] alius goes back to Proto-Italic *al-jo- (“another”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-io- (“another”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation is Plautus: sīn aliter sient animātī, “but if they are minded otherwise”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Aliter is “in another way, otherwise, differently”, often with atque, quam or ac (Plautus: longē aliter est amīcus atque amātor, “a friend is something very different from a lover”).^[2][1] Repeated, aliter … aliter is “in one way … in another”, and nōn aliter quam sī is “exactly as if”.^[2] As a euphemism it is “otherwise than one wishes, badly” (Cicero: sīn aliter acciderit, “if it turns out otherwise”).^[2][1] It also means “on any other terms, if not, otherwise, else” (Cicero: neque enim aliter stāre possēmus, “for we could not stand otherwise”).^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “otherwise”, and aliter atque “otherwise than”.^[4] Wiktionary adds “wrongly, poorly”.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: sīn aliter sient animātī.^[2][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence: haud aliter cēnseō.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: sīn aliter acciderit.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. otherwise, differently, in another way.^[2][6][1][4]
2. aliter … aliter: in one way … in another.^[2]
3. nōn aliter quam sī: exactly as if.^[2]
4. Otherwise than one would wish, badly, unfavourably.^[2][1]
5. If not, else, on any other terms.^[2]

Related words

• alius
• alter

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press