carptim

Forms

carptim (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin carpō (“to pluck”) + -tim.^[1][2][3] De Vaan derives carpō from Proto-Italic *karp- and Proto-Indo-European *kerp- (“to pick, pluck”),^[4] cognate with Ancient Greek καρπός (karpós, “fruit”) and Lithuanian kir̃pti (“to chop, cut”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short note that it is very rare before Augustus and absent from Cicero.^[5] Sallust says he decided to write the history of the Roman people carptim, in selected parts, as each event seemed worth recording.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It means in separate pieces or parts, as Columella's honeycombs gathered piece by piece and Suetonius' land divided into small plots.^[5][6] Livy uses it of attacks made here and there, as the Carthaginians fought in scattered skirmishes, and of people coming at different times rather than all together;^[5][2] Tacitus has soldiers dismissed one by one.^[5][2] Pliny the Elder uses it of ravens taking in their voice intermittently,^[2] and Pliny the Younger of speaking selectively, by main points.^[6]

Grammarians and glossaries explain it as “scattered”, picked out one by one.^[3] In medieval British Latin it means disconnectedly or selectively: Aldhelm says he gathered a few examples carptim et cursim, “piecemeal and hastily”.^[7]

Timeline

• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of writing history in selected parts.^[2][8]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of scattered attacks.^[2][8]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of gathering honeycombs piece by piece.^[5][8]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus has soldiers dismissed one by one.^[5][8]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm gathers examples piecemeal.^[7][8]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In separate parts, piecemeal.^[2][5]
2. Selectively, by main points.^[2][6]
3. Here and there, in scattered attacks.^[2]
4. From time to time, intermittently.^[2][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de