altum

Forms

altum n (genitive altī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the neuter of altus (“high, deep”) used as a noun.^[2][1][3] Lewis & Short treat altus as the participle of alō (“to nourish”).^[3] The rare adverb meaning “deeply” is its accusative.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Livius Andronicus has it for the open sea: iam in altum expulsā lintre, “the boat already driven out to sea”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Altum is first the deep, the open sea (Naevius), and a high place, the height of the sky (Ennius: ex altō in altum dēspexit mare, “looked down from on high into the deep sea”).^[2][1] It is also the depths of the earth or of an object, a region hidden from knowledge (Sallust), and a remote point of time or source: ex altō repetere, to go far back (Fronto: “why such a far-fetched preface?”).^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “the deep”.^[5]

Timeline

• 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus: in altum expulsā lintre.^[2][4]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius: ex altō in altum dēspexit mare.^[2][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the depths of a stone.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The deep, the open sea.^[2][1][5]
2. A height, the height of heaven.^[2][1]
3. The depths, the interior.^[2]
4. Obscurity; a remote time or source: ex altō repetere, to go far back.^[2]

Adverb

1. (rare) Deeply.^[1]

Related words

• altus
• altē
• alō

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b 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
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson