Etymologically
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alterno

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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

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