alte

Forms

altē (comparative altius, superlative altissimē)^[1] Comparative altius, superlative altissimē.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin altus (“high, deep”) + -ē.^[2][1] Lewis & Short treat altus as the participle of alō (“to nourish”), “grown big”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Naevius has altē iubātōs anguēs, serpents “with crests held high”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Like altus it looks both up and down: “at a great height, high”, “to a great height” (Cicero: tollam altius tēctum), “from on high”, and “deep down, deeply” into the ground, water or body (Virgil: altē vulnus adāctum).^[2] Plautus has suspīritum altē, a deep sigh.^[2] Figuratively it is “deeply, intensely” (of anger), “to high rank”, “deeply, thoroughly” into a subject (Cicero: quī altius perspiciēbant), “far afield” and “far back”, as in altius repetere, to begin far back.^[2][1]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius: altē iubātōs anguēs.^[2][4]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: suspīritum altē.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: tollam altius tēctum.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. High, on high; to a great height.^[2][1]
2. From on high, from above.^[2][1]
3. Deep, deeply.^[2][1]
4. Intensely, profoundly.^[2][1]
5. To high rank.^[2]
6. Thoroughly, below the surface; far afield; far back.^[2][1]

Related words

• altus
• alō
• altitūdō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de