antea

Forms

anteā (not comparable)^[1] An older form antideā is found.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ante (“before”) + eā (“these things”), with the ablative of is (“this, that”).^[2][1][4] It is built like antehāc, posteā and proptereā.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Terence.^[4] The OLD also cites Cato, who contrasts anteā with posteā: those who before had paid for their own meals, afterwards paid a hundred.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Anteā is “before, previously, in the past”, often contrasted with posteā or nunc.^[2][1] With iam it is “already in the past”, and it can be followed by quam, “before (that)”.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “before, formerly, earlier”.^[5] In Medieval Latin it can also mean “rather”.^[6]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato contrasts anteā with posteā.^[2][4]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: iam anteā, “already before”.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Before, previously, formerly.^[2][3][1][5]
2. iam anteā: already before.^[2]
3. anteā quam: before (that).^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) rather.^[6]

Related words

• antehāc
• ante
• posteā

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e 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
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill