Etymologically
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antequam

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈan.tɛ.kʷãː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈan.te.kʷam][1]

Forms

antequam (conjunction)[1] It is also written separately, ante quam, often with words between.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ante (“before”) + quam (“than”).[2][4] De Vaan traces ante to Proto-Italic *anti and Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent-i (“in front”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato has it with the indicative in a speech (antequam is vīlicāre coepit, “before he began to manage the estate”) and with the subjunctive in his work on farming: haec facitō antequam vīneam fodere incipiās, “do this before you begin to dig the vineyard”.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Antequam means “before”: with the indicative it states a simple order in time (Cicero: before Dolabella was condemned), with the subjunctive an action that is expected, anticipated or prevented.[2] It is also used without a finite verb (Livy: they would not lay down their power before the laws were passed), and in impossible comparisons means “sooner … than”: Virgil's ante levēs ergō pāscentur in aethere cervī … quam nostrō illīus lābātur pectore vultus, “sooner will the light deer graze in the air than his face fade from my heart”.[2] It can also mean “until”.[1]

Church Latin glosses it “before, sooner than”.[6]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato: antequam vīneam fodere incipiās.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: antequam Dolābella condemnātus est.[2][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil: ante levēs … pāscentur in aethere cervī.[2][4]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. Before (with indicative or subjunctive).[2][3][1][6]
  2. Sooner than (in impossible comparisons).[2][6]
  3. Until.[1]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson