anteeo

Forms

anteeō (present infinitive anteīre, perfect active anteiī or anteīvī, supine anteitum); irregular conjugation^[1] An older form is antideō, as Plautus' antidit for anteit.^[2][3] In verse -ei- is often scanned as one syllable.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from ante- (“before”) and eō (“to go”).^[2][1] The old forms with ⟨antid-⟩ follow the pattern of redeō and ⟨antideā⟩, to avoid hiatus.^[1] De Vaan traces ⟨eō⟩ to Proto-Italic *ei- and Proto-Indo-European *h₁ei- (“to go”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[4] who has it first in the sense of surpassing: “virtue surely surpasses all things”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to walk in front of or precede, as Cicero's lictors going ahead with their fasces, and to outrun, as in Ovid; of things, to move in front.^[2][3] In time it is to come before, and with aetāte to be older than someone.^[2] It is also to anticipate or forestall, as Terence's “I beg you to forestall it while there is time”, and very often to surpass or excel, of persons, qualities or prices.^[2] Tacitus uses it for placing oneself above others.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “go before”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of virtue surpassing all things.^[2][6]
• 190–159 BC – Terence of forestalling something.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of lictors walking in front.^[2][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of being placed above others.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To go before, walk in front of, precede.^[2][3][1][5]
2. To go faster or farther than.^[2]
3. To precede in time; with aetāte, to be older than.^[2]
4. To forestall, anticipate.^[2][1]
5. To be better than, surpass, excel; to exceed in price or number.^[2][1]

Related words

• eō
• ante
• antecēdō

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 l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de