bipertito

Forms

bipertītō (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin bipertītus (“divided into two parts”), with the adverbial ending ⟨-ō⟩;^[2][3] it is also spelled ⟨bipart-⟩.^[2][3] That adjective, recorded from Varro on, is made of bi- (“two”) and partītus (“divided”), the participle of partiō, and de Vaan lists it among the derivatives of pars (“part”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's earliest instance is in the Rhetorica ad Herennium, where something is divided “doubly and in two parts”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It is used of things or people divided into two groups: Cicero writes of a fleet distributed in two parts and of men who stationed themselves in two groups in the villas near the Mulvian bridge, Caesar of troops attacking in two divisions and of ambushes laid in two places in the woods, and Livy of horsemen sent out in two bodies.^[3][2] With esse it means “to be divided”.^[2] Ovid uses it of a mind split between two loves.^[3]

Cicero also uses it for “in two ways”, as when something is removed in two ways or things are distinguished both by nature and by convention.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it of a twofold division.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a fleet divided in two and for “in two ways”.^[3][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of troops attacking in two divisions.^[3][5]
• 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy uses it of cavalry sent out in two bodies.^[3][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In two parts or divisions;^[2][3] bipertītō esse, to be divided.^[2][3]
2. In two ways.^[2][3]

Usage notes

The corresponding adverb for three parts is tripertītō.^[6]

References

1. ^ 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 h i j k l m 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press