Etymologically
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appetens

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Forms

appetēns (genitive appetentis), comparative appetentior, superlative appetentissimus; third-declension one-termination adjective[1][2] It is also spelled adpetēns.[1][3]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the present participle from Latin appetō (“to reach out for, seek”).[1][2] That verb is a compound of ad- and petō (“to make for, seek”),[4] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *pet-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *pt-(e)i- (“to fly”), with a shift of meaning from flying towards something to trying to reach it; he notes that this connection is not self-evident.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,[6] who uses it with a genitive of a person covetous of other people's goods, aliēnī appetēns.[1]

Semantic evolution

With a genitive it means eager or greedy for something: Cicero has appetēns gloriae, eager for glory, and homō tuī appetentissimus, a man most eager for your company.[2] Sallust pairs aliēnī appetēns with suī profūsus, lavish with his own.[7] Pliny the Elder uses it of a natural appetite for a kind of food,[1] and later writers of a craving for food and wine.[3] Used on its own it means greedy or covetous: Cicero sets a grateful mind against one that is nōn appetēns, nōn avidus.[1][8]

In Medieval Latin it was also used as a noun, of one who strives for or lays claim to something.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it with a genitive, “covetous of others' goods”, and on its own, “greedy”.[1][6]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust writes aliēnī appetēns, suī profūsus.[7][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a natural appetite for food.[1][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses the comparative appetentior with fāmae, fame.[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (with genitive) Having a natural appetite for a food.[1]
  2. (with genitive) Desirous of, eager for; eager for the company of people.[1][2]
  3. (absolute) Greedy, covetous.[1][8]
  4. (Medieval Latin, as a noun) One who strives for or lays claim to something.[6]

References

  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  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 d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.