Etymologically
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aut

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈau̯t][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈau̯t][1]

Forms

aut [1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *auti (or ⟨*aute⟩), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eu (“away”).[2][1] Wiktionary gives the PIE form as *h₂ewti (“on the other hand”).[1] The same base, with an added ⟨-m⟩, gives autem.[2]

Cognate with Oscan aut (“but, or”) and auti (“or”), Umbrian ute (“or”), Ancient Greek αὖ (aû, “again, on the contrary”) and αὐτάρ (autár), and Sanskrit अव (áva, “off, down”).[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears in the Twelve Tables, which order a debtor to be bound aut nervō aut compedibus “either with a cord or with fetters”.[3][4][2]

Semantic evolution

Aut sets out alternatives that exclude each other (“either … or”), or the possible courses in a situation; after a negative it excludes all of them (“nor”).[3][5] It also introduces a correction (“or rather”), an approximate figure (aut summum “or at most”, plūs aut minus “more or less”), and a threat after a command (“or else”).[3][1]

In Medieval Latin it could simply mean “and”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – aut nervō aut compedibus in the Twelve Tables.[3][4][7]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius: aut intrā mūrōs aut extrā.[3][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero writes biduō aut summum triduō, “in two or at most three days”.[3][7]
  • c. 550–1150 – Medieval Latin also uses it for “and”.[6]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. or;[3][5] aut … aut, either … or.[3][5]
  2. (after a negative) Nor, or.[3]
  3. Or rather, or at least (correcting).[3][1]
  4. (with numbers) Or about;[3] plūs aut minus, more or less.[3]
  5. Or else, otherwise (after a command).[1]
  6. (Medieval Latin) And.[6]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de