cotidianus

Forms

cotīdiānus (feminine cotīdiāna, neuter cotīdiānum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] It is also spelled cottīdiānus and quotīdiānus.^[2] Martial scans it cōtīdiānus.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin cottīdiē (“every day”) + -ānus.^[2][1] The adverb is from quotus (“which in number”) and diēs (“day”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Trinummus: “Pax, that is my name; this one is the everyday one” (hoc cottīdiānumst).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is daily, happening or used every day, and of fevers quotidian, Afranius sets the daily round against feast days.^[2] It is also habitual or normal, and of things such as one meets every day, ordinary or commonplace, as Terence's young man tired of everyday beauties.^[2] Church Latin glosses it “daily”.^[4] In Medieval Latin it is said of someone owing daily service to a lord or attached to his household.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in the sense “usual”.^[2][3]
• 190–159 BC – Terence in the sense “ordinary”.^[2][3]
• second half of the 2nd century BC – Afranius in the sense “daily”.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Daily, (of fevers) quotidian.^[2][1][4]
2. Habitual, usual, normal.^[2]
3. Ordinary, commonplace.^[2][1]
4. (Medieval Latin) Owing daily service to a lord.^[5]

Related words

• cottīdiē
• quotus
• diēs

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
5. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill