continuatus

Forms

continuātus (feminine continuāta, neuter continuātum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the perfect passive participle from Latin continuō (“to join together, continue”).^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in the Rhetorica ad Herennium and in Cicero,^[2] who in the Academica speaks of the whole of nature as coherent and continuous with all its parts.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant unbroken in space or time:^[2] Caesar has a march without halts (continuatum iter),^[4][3] Vitruvius the regions that run on from Cumae to the promontory of Minerva, and Livy a column marching almost unbroken.^[2] Celsus uses it in medicine of a continuous fever and of a spreading ulceration.^[2] Of words in a series it meant “consecutive”: the Rhetorica ad Herennium and Cicero contrast ornament of single words with ornament of words joined together, and Vitruvius has two consecutive tones.^[2]

With the dative it meant “adjoining”: Cicero has the air joined to the sea, and Ovid a house next to the forum of Augustus.^[2] Sidonius Apollinaris has the superlative continuatissimus.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of continuous nature and of words joined in a sentence.^[2][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of a march without halts.^[4][3][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of consecutive tones.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of an unbroken column.^[2][5]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of a continuous fever.^[2][5]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius Apollinaris uses the superlative.^[4][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Uninterrupted, unbroken (in space or time); (medicine) continuous.^[2][4]
2. Consecutive, following one another in a series.^[2][3]
3. (with dative) adjacent to, adjoining.^[2][3]

Usage notes

The neuter is used as a noun by Cicero, continuatum “what is continuous” against interruptum.^[2] A rare noun continuātus, -ūs “connection” occurs in a commentary on Joel ascribed to Rufinus.^[6][5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften