consequens

Forms

cōnsequēns (genitive cōnsequentis); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin cōnsequor (“to follow closely; to follow as a result”), its present participle used as an adjective.^[1][2][3] The verb is a compound of com- and sequor (“to follow”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest example is in the Rhetorica ad Herennium, which speaks of avoiding a present or a subsequent danger.^[1]

Semantic evolution

Cicero made it a term of logic and rhetoric: what follows as a consequence, the neuter as a noun, and consequens est “it follows (that)”.^[1][2][3] It also meant consistent or corresponding, as in Varro's grammar,^[1] and in Cicero correctly constructed, non consequens being a phrase that breaks the construction.^[2][3] Rufinus even has a superlative consequentissimus.^[2]

Medieval writers kept the sense “following”: Thietmar of Merseburg writes in consequenti anno “in the following year”, and the masculine became a noun for a follower or companion.^[5][6] In scholastic philosophy consequens is the counterpart of antecedens.^[7][5] English took it over as consequent in the early 15th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for what follows logically.^[1][3][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of corresponding grammatical forms.^[1][6]
• 1012–1018 – Thietmar of Merseburg uses it of time and, as a noun, of followers.^[5][6]
• early 15th century – Borrowed into English as consequent.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Following in time, subsequent; next in order.^[1][5]
2. Following as a logical consequence;^[1][2] consequens est (with accusative and infinitive or ut), “it follows that”.^[1][2]
3. Consistent, corresponding; analogous.^[1][3]
4. (grammar) Correctly constructed.^[2][3]

Noun

1. (neuter) A consequence; in logic, the consequent.^[1][5][7]
2. (Medieval Latin, masculine) A follower, companion.^[5][6]

Related words

• English consequent

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh