articulatim

Forms

articulātim (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

The OLD derives it from the perfect participle of articulō with the adverbial suffix -im;^[2] Wiktionary forms it from Latin articulus (“joint”) + -ātim.^[1] articulus is a diminutive of artus² (“joint, limb”),^[3] which de Vaan traces back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂r-tú- (“juncture, ordering”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,^[4][5] in the Epidicus (488), where someone is said to have cut a man up “joint by joint”.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

From “limb by limb”, said of a body cut up, as in a tragic fragment about Medea dismembering her brother,^[2][6] it passed to speech: Lucretius uses it of words heard sound by sound,^[2] and Varro and Cicero of things explained or said point by point and distinctly.^[2][6] Plautus already spoke of cutting up the day into small pieces with it.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for cutting a person up “joint by joint”.^[5][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of words heard syllable by syllable.^[2][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of definitions explained point by point.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero pairs it with distincte for clear speech.^[6][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Limb by limb, joint by joint; piecemeal.^[2][6]
2. Sound by sound, syllable by syllable.^[2]
3. Point by point, in detail; distinctly.^[2][6]

References

1. ^ a b 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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press