atavus

Forms

atavus m (genitive atavī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin at- + avus (“grandfather”).^[2][1][3] The TLL finds the first part of the compound not clear enough to explain, comparing abavus and proavus.^[4] Festus, as reported by the TLL, derived it from atta, a child's word for father, as the father of a grandfather;^[4] Köbler also refers it to atta.^[5] De Vaan traces avus to Proto-Indo-European *h2euh2- (“grandfather (on the mother's side)”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it in the Persa, in a list of ancestors running pater, avus, proavus, abavus, atavus, tritavus.^[2][7][5]

Semantic evolution

Strictly it is the father of a great-great-grandfather (or great-great-grandmother), the counterpart of adnepōs,^[3][2] the sense the jurists define in the Digest.^[3] Poets use it, often in the plural beside avus, for distant forefathers: Virgil's Turnus is avīs atavīsque potēns, mighty in his ancestry, and Horace opens his Odes by calling Maecenas atavīs ēdite rēgibus, “descended from royal ancestors”.^[3][7] The OLD also records an archaic form atavos.^[2] Medieval writers often used it more loosely, for a great-grandfather or a great-great-grandfather.^[8][9][10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in a list of ancestors.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses the plural for remote forefathers.^[2][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace calls Maecenas a descendant of royal ancestors.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A great-great-great-grandfather.^[2][3]
2. A remote ancestor, a forefather.^[2][3]
3. (Medieval Latin) A great-grandfather.^[8][10]

Related words

• avus
• abavus
• proavus
• tritavus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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 Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press