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Forms

cūrātē (adverb; comparative cūrātius, superlative cūrātissimē)^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin cūrātus (“careful, attentive”) + -ē.^[1][3][4] That adjective is the participle of cūrō (“to take care of”), which is formed from cūra (“care”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the comparative cūrātius, in the letters of Pliny the Younger and in Tacitus,^[3][6] meaning “more carefully, with more attention”.^[3][1]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it means doing something with care, diligently or elaborately,^[1][6] and is mostly found in the comparative: Tacitus uses cūrātius of reading something more attentively.^[3][7] The positive cūrātē appears in Ammianus Marcellinus.^[3][7]

Medieval Latin kept it in the sense “carefully, diligently”, of things prepared or reread with care,^[8] and the medieval Latin of Poland has the superlative cūrātissimē.^[9]

Timeline

• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses the comparative cūrātius in the Annals.^[3][6][5]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses the positive cūrātē.^[3][7][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. With care, carefully, diligently; elaborately.^[1][3]
2. (comparative) More attentively, as of reading something closely.^[3][1]

Usage notes

The glossaries render it with σπουδαίως (spoudaíōs) “earnestly”.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ VoLat: Vocabolario della Lingua Latina (2018), Milan: Hoepli
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
10. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften