Etymologically
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antea

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈan.te.aː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈan.te.a][1]

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]

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