amans

Forms

amāns m or f (genitive amantis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the present participle of amō (“to love”), used as an adjective and a noun.^[2][1][3] De Vaan derives amō from Proto-Italic *ama- (“to take, hold”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃mh₃- (“to take hold of”), with cognates such as Ancient Greek ὄμνυμι (ómnumi, “to swear”); the Latin meaning would have developed from “to take someone's hand” to “to regard as a friend”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates the noun from Terence and the adjective from Cicero.^[5] The Rhetorica ad Herennium has vester … animus amantissimus reī pūblicae, “your spirit, most devoted to the state”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective amāns is “fond of, devoted to”, usually with a genitive (Cicero: genus hoc ūniversum amantissimum est ōtī, “this whole class is most devoted to peace”), and of words and things “loving, affectionate”.^[2][1] In epitaphs it is also passive, “beloved, dear”: fīliae … ab omnibus amantissimae, “to a daughter much loved by all”.^[2]

As a noun amāns is a person who loves, especially “a lover, sweetheart”.^[2][1]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence uses the noun.^[5]
• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium: animus amantissimus reī pūblicae.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: amantissimum … ōtī.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. fond (of), devoted (to), loving.^[2][1]
2. Loving, affectionate (of words or things).^[2]
3. (passive) Beloved, dear.^[2]

Noun

1. A lover, sweetheart; a person who is fond of someone.^[2][1]

Related words

• amō
• amor
• amātor
• amīcus

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes amīcus, a calm and sincere affection that implies reciprocity, from amāns and amātor, a more ardent feeling that need not be returned;^[6] amāns describes it as a passing state, amātor as a habit.^[6] Cicero says aliud est amātōrem esse, aliud amantem, “it is one thing to be a lover by habit, another to be in love”.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper