altero

Forms

alterō (present infinitive alterāre, perfect active alterāvī, supine alterātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin alter (“other”) + -ō, “to make other”.^[1][2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first example is in the medical writer Caelius Aurelianus, who uses it in a warning not to alterent a cough rather than soothe it: to make worse, the opposite of mītigāre.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Boethius uses it in his commentaries on Porphyry and Aristotle's Topics for making something different: everything that is other has been altered, he writes, but not everything that has been altered can be called other.^[2][3][4]

In Medieval Latin it became the usual verb for change of quality in natural philosophy: Albertus Magnus uses it of the senses, of bodies and of food altered by digestion.^[6] British sources use it of changing things in general, of distinguishing, of doubling the length of a note in music, and, with habitus, of taking the monk's habit.^[7] Through Old French alterer it became English alter in the late 14th century.^[8]

Timeline

• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it of making a cough worse.^[2][9]
• 13th century – Albertus Magnus uses it for change of quality.^[6][9]
• late 14th century – English alter appears, through Old French.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make different, change, alter.^{[4][1][10][7]}
2. To make worse, aggravate.^[3][2]
3. (Medieval Latin, natural philosophy) To change in quality; to digest.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin, music) To double the length of a note.^[7]
5. (Medieval Latin, with habitus) To take the monk's habit.^[7]

Word family

• inaltero

Related words

• alter

Usage notes

Georges and Gaffiot list a separate adverb alterō “secondly”, from the ablative of alter, found in Festus in the pair alterō … tertiō.^[3][4][2][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill