alterno

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [aɫˈtɛr.noː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [alˈtɛr.no]^[1]

Forms

alternō (present infinitive alternāre, perfect active alternāvī, supine alternātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from alternus “one after the other, alternate” with the verb suffix -ō, from alter “the other”.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gaffiot's earliest citation is from Cicero, of doing things by turns.^[3] The OLD's earliest citations are from Propertius and Virgil.^[2] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to do one thing and then another, interchange, as Cicero's miscenda ista et alternanda “these must be mixed and alternated”.^[5][3] In Propertius it meant to ebb and flow, in Virgil to waver in mind, and in Pliny to be variegated, to alternate, and to bear fruit in alternate years.^[2] It meant to arrange in alternation, as in Columella, to produce by alternation, and in Ovid alternāre vicēs to change places or undergo transformation.^[2] The TLL notes it is used almost always of two things.^[6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to change.^[7] English alternate came in the 1510s from its participle alternātus.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of alternating.^[3][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of wavering.^[2][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny uses it of alternating crops.^[2][4]
• 1510s – English alternate is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To do by turns, interchange.^[5]
2. To ebb and flow; to waver.^[2]
3. To be variegated.^[2]
4. To alternate; to bear in alternate years.^[2]
5. To arrange alternately; to change places.^[2]
6. To give in rotation.^[2]

Word family

• alternabilis
• alternamentum
• alternātim
• alternātiō
• alternātus

Related words

• alternus
• alter
• English alternate
• English alternative

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 k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com