antehac

Forms

antehāc (not comparable)^[1] The old form antidhāc is frequent in Plautus.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a compound of ante (“before”) and the adverb hāc (“by this way”), from hic (“this”).^[2][4][1][5] The old form ⟨antidhāc⟩ has the same ⟨antid-⟩ as ⟨antideā⟩ for anteā.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Ennius,^[5] whose Annals speak of minds that used to stand upright before this time.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means before this time, up till now, and in the past, before now; also before then.^[2] Plautus often has the old form antidhāc;^[3][4] he also uses antehāc when a character says they had not seen before now fathers become the rivals of their sons at the pimps'.^[2]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius, before this time.^[2][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in the form antidhāc.^[2][3][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Before this time, up till now, previously.^[2][1]
2. In the past, formerly; before then.^[2][1]

Related words

• anteā
• posthāc

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 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 c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de