convenienter

Forms

convenienter (comparative convenientius, superlative convenientissimē)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin conveniēns (“suitable, consistent”) + -ter,^[2][1] the present participle of conveniō (“to come together, agree, suit”),^[3][4] itself from veniō (“to come”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *gʷn-je/o-.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the TLL find it first in Cicero,^[6][7] who argues in the Academica that it cannot consistently be said that nothing can be grasped.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

It meant suitably, consistently or in agreement with something,^[2][3] with the dative, with cum and the ablative, or with ad and the accusative.^[4][8] In Cicero's philosophical works it belongs to the Stoic ideal of living in agreement with nature, congruenter nātūrae convenienterque vīvere,^[4][9] and of speaking consistently with oneself.^[4][8] Livy uses it of speaking in a way that suits one's present fortune.^[4][9]

The TLL follows it through the jurists, the grammarians and the Church Fathers, among them Augustine, who has the comparative convenientius.^[7][9] Stelten glosses it as suitably or duly,^[10] and Niermeyer records it in medieval Latin in the sense “suitably”.^[11]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of living in agreement with nature.^[4][9][6]
• 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy uses it of speech suited to circumstances.^[4][9]
• 140–180 AD – Gaius uses it in his Institutes.^[7][6]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses the comparative convenientius.^[9][6]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Suitably, fitly.^[2][3]
2. Consistently, in agreement or conformity (with something).^[2][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
11. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill