docte

Forms

doctē (comparative doctius, superlative doctissimē)^[1]

Etymology

It is the adverb from Latin doctus (“learned, skilled”), from the participle of doceō (“to teach”).^[2][3] De Vaan traces doceō to Proto-Italic *dok-eje- and Proto-Indo-European *doḱ-ei̯e/o- (“to have someone accept something”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Naevius has it first, of someone who questions blandly and cleverly.^[1]

Semantic evolution

In early Latin it is cleverly, shrewdly: Plautus has cheating an old man cleverly and the superlative doctissumē.^[1] From Varro and Cicero on it is in a learned way, as Cicero's report that a man discussed some matters learnedly and fully.^[1] It is also skilfully, as Horace's comparative of painting more skilfully than the Greeks and Juvenal's skilful arranging of dishes.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius, of clever questioning.^[1][3]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of cheating cleverly.^[1][3]
• 116–27 BC – Varro, of writing learnedly.^[1][3]
• 65–8 BC – Horace, of painting skilfully.^[1][3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Cleverly, astutely, shrewdly.^[1]
2. In a learned manner.^[1][2]
3. Skilfully, in an accomplished manner.^[1]

Related words

• doctus
• doceō
• indoctē

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill