altus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈaɫ.tʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈal.tus]^[1]

Forms

altus (feminine alta, neuter altum, comparative altior, superlative altissimus, adverb altē); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *alto- (“high”).^[2][1] In form it is the perfect participle of alere “to nourish”, so that the OLD, Lewis and Short and Wiktionary take it as “grown tall” from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“to grow, nourish”), as Festus already did; de Vaan finds the meanings hard to connect and reports Schrijver's view that the identity is unlikely, and he gives the Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-to- with a question mark.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Cognate with Old Irish alt (“height, bank, coast”), Welsh allt (“hillside”) and Breton aod (“coast”), and perhaps with the Germanic word for “old”, Old High German alt, Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌸𐌴𐌹𐍃 (alþeis) and Old English eald, if that developed from “high” through “grown tall”.^[2][1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Livius Andronicus uses it of men climbing a high mountain,^[3][2] and the inscription of the Columna Rostrata has in altod marid, “on the high sea”.^[3][4] Accius already uses it for “old”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it a polar word, meaning both high and deep according to the viewer's position.^[4] Upwards it described mountains, walls, trees, places on high ground, heavenly bodies and an exalted seat; downwards the high sea (altum mare), wells, foundations, wounds and the depths, including the heart as the seat of feeling (alto pectore).^[3] It also meant thick (snow, dust), long (grass, hair), deep in ranks, remote in time or advanced in age, loud and deep of sounds, intense of heat and cold, dense of darkness, and profound of night, silence, peace and sleep.^[3][4]

Figuratively it meant high-born, exalted, proud, noble or elevated in thought and style, profound in wisdom, strong in feeling and grave in crime.^[3] The neuter altum was the high sea, the depths or a height.^[3][1] Medieval charters use de alto et basso for full judicial authority, and medieval Latin added “expensive”, “swollen” and “holy, venerable”.^[6][7][8] It survives as Italian, Spanish and Portuguese alto, Romanian înalt and French haut,^[1] and Italian alto gave the voice part alto, borrowed into English in 1784.^[9][7]

Timeline

• c. 280–200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it of a high mountain.^[3][2]
• 260 BC – The Columna Rostrata speaks of fighting on the high sea.^[3][4]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of a tall fir and of the deep Hellespont.^[3][7]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it in the sense “old”.^[2]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of noble thoughts and profound minds.^[3][7]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of an ancient origin.^[3][7]
• 1784 – English Alto is borrowed into English from Italian.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. High, tall, lofty; situated high up.^[3][4]
2. Deep, as in altum mare, the high sea, or situated at a great depth.^[3][4]
3. Thick, dense; long, of grass or hair; deep, of ranks.^[3]
4. Remote in time, ancient; advanced in age.^[3][2]
5. Deep, loud, of sounds; intense, of heat or cold; dark, dense; profound, of night, silence or sleep.^[3]
6. High-born, exalted; proud; noble, elevated; profound in wisdom; deep, of feelings; grave, of crimes.^[3][4]
7. (Medieval Latin) Expensive; swollen; holy, venerable.^[7][8]

Noun

1. altum – the high sea; the depths; a height.^[3][1]

Word family

• altē
• altipendulus
• altipeta
• altisonus
• altispex
• altitonāns
• altitūdō
• altiusculus
• altivolus
• altum

Related words

• alō
• English alto
• English altitude
• English old

Usage notes

Agroecius noted that altum means both what is above and what is below.^[5] Döderlein sets altus, height or depth as a dimension, against ēditus, the height of a hill, and prōcērus, height of growth.^[10]

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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper