amanter

Forms

amanter (comparative amantius, superlative amantissimē)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin amāns (“loving”) + -ter (“adverbial suffix”), from the present participle of amō (“to love”).^[2][1] De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Italic *ama- (“to take, hold”) and Proto-Indo-European *h3mh3- (“to take hold of”); the Latin meaning would have developed from “take the hand of” to “regard as a friend”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero is the first to use it,^[4][5] in letters and dialogues, with the comparative amantius (De re publica 1.6) and the superlative amantissime (Laelius 2): he lived with a friend coniunctissime et amantissime, “in the closest and most affectionate way”.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

Most of Cicero's uses are in his letters, where he asks a friend to settle a matter amanter and carefully.^[5][7] Tacitus has the comparative in a speech: melius et amantius ille qui gladium offerebat quam vos qui detraxistis, “he who offered the sword acted better and more lovingly than you who snatched it away” (Annals 1.43).^[5] Pliny the Younger, Apuleius and Jerome continue it.^[5]

The OLD also gives an amorous sense,^[2] and Donatus glosses Terence's satis amanter as meaning “like a lover”.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it, with its comparative and superlative.^[5][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses amantius in the Annals.^[5][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. With love or affection, lovingly, affectionately.^[2][6]
2. Amorously.^[2][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn