Etymologically
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continenter

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Forms

continenter (comparative continentius, superlative continentissimē)[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin continēns (“continuous; self-restrained”) + -ter,[3][1] from the present participle of contineō (“to hold together”), a compound of con- and teneō (“to hold”).[1][4] De Vaan traces teneō to Proto-Italic *t(e)nē- and Proto-Indo-European *tn-eh₁- (“to hold”), a stative present of the root ⟨*ten-⟩ “to stretch”.[5] Cognate with Umbrian tenitu (“to hold”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Catullus,[4] who writes of men sitting continenter, “in an unbroken row”;[3][6] the TLL cites it already from Plautus, paired with artē, of a mother who keeps someone closely.[7]

Semantic evolution

Its sense of continuity applies in space, in an unbroken line, and in time, without a pause:[3][6] the Rhetorica ad Herennium speaks of saying many things in one breath, Caesar of fighting continuously for more than six hours, and Livy of stones raining for two days without a break.[3][6][2] The same rhetorical work uses it for returning repeatedly to the last word of successive clauses.[3] From continēns in the sense “self-restrained” it also means temperately: Cicero praises living parcē, continenter, sevērē, sōbriē in contrast with a soft and luxurious life,[6] and Augustine has the superlative continentissimē.[6][2] Köbler records it in medieval Latin in Thietmar of Merseburg.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus pairs it with artē.[7][4]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of an unbroken row.[3][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a temperate life.[3][6][4]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar writes of fighting continuously.[6][2][4]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses the superlative.[6][4]
  • 1012–1018 – Thietmar of Merseburg uses it.[4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Without a gap in space, in an unbroken line, continuously.[3][6]
  2. Without a pause, incessantly.[3][6][1]
  3. Repeatedly, in succession.[3][1]
  4. With self-restraint, temperately, continently.[3][6][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften