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consequens

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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]
  • 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