biduum

Forms

bīduum n (genitive bīduī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound of bi- (“two”) and ⟨*diuom⟩, a form related to diēs (“day”), “two days”.^[2][3][1] The TLL compares triduum and interdiū (“by day”).^[3] De Vaan traces ⟨diēs⟩ to Proto-Italic *diē- and Proto-Indo-European *di-eu- (“clear sky, god of the sky”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Terence as its first author:^[5] in the Eunuchus a lover begs “grant me only two days at least”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is a period of two days, frequent in prose, as Cicero's “a day or at most two” taken out of a month, Caesar's bīduum supererat “two days were left”, and Livy's two days given to owners to recognise their property.^[3][2] Among the poets only Terence and Avienus use it.^[3]

The pilgrim Egeria writes fēcimus ibi bīduum, “we spent two days there”.^[3] Church Latin glosses it “space of two days”.^[6]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence of two days' respite.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero.^[3][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of two days remaining.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A period of two days.^[2][1][6]

Related words

• triduum
• diēs
• biennium

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson