communiter

Forms

commūniter (comparative commūnius, superlative commūnissimē)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin commūnis (“common, shared”) + -ter.^[2][1] Wiktionary traces commūnis through Old Latin comoinis to Proto-Italic *kommoinis and Proto-Indo-European *ḱom-moy-ni-s, from the root *mey-.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example is in Cato, of people pounding grain together;^[2][3] Köbler's first author is Cicero.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It means jointly or in common, and both or all alike: a speech of Gracchus speaks of someone looking after the people, the state and himself alike.^[2] Cicero uses it of speaking in general terms, and Seneca of a word used in its ordinary sense: everyone who writes verse is commonly called a poet.^[2] Isidore explains several words from it.^[4] In Medieval Latin it also means in the usual way, in the aggregate, and publicly or openly.^[5]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato of working together.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of speaking in general terms.^[2][3]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca the Younger of the ordinary sense of a word.^[2][3]
• Middle Ages – publicly, openly.^[5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Jointly, in common, together.^[2][1][5]
2. Both or all alike, indiscriminately.^[2]
3. In general terms; in the ordinary sense, commonly.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) In the usual way; publicly, openly.^[5]

Related words

• commūnis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill