dumtaxat

Forms

dumtaxat (not comparable)^[1] It is also spelled duntaxat;^[2] it is often written separately or split by other words, as dum … taxat, and Lewis and Short think pre-Augustan monuments always wrote it so.^[3][2]

Etymology

It is formed from dum (“while, as long as”) and ⟨taxat⟩, probably a subjunctive of an old verb ⟨*taxō⟩ from tangō (“to touch”), like vīsō (“to visit”) beside ⟨videō⟩; so roughly “as far as it touches”.^[3][4][1] De Vaan sees in it, together with taxō (“to assess”), an old s-present of ⟨tangō⟩, preserved in this fixed expression; the verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *th₂-n-g- (“to touch”).^[5] The TLL suggests that ⟨taxat⟩ meant “touches in any part” or arose from a blend of subjunctive and indicative forms.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Plautus,^[6] who has “I will have food bought for a mina at most” in the Truculentus.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is first up to a maximum, not exceeding, at most, as in Plautus, and in Vitruvius not less than or at least.^[3] Limiting an action it is no more than, only or just, as Cato's “the owner shall only fell the timber”, and so far, up to a point, as Cicero's “let them be thought sound and dry, but only as athletes are”;^[3][2][1] nōn dumtaxat … sed is not only … but also, as in Livy.^[3][2][1] Introducing a condition it is provided that or as long as, as in Cato, and marking the least that holds it is at any rate, as Cicero's “Athens delighted me, at least the city and its ornaments”.^[3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “insofar as, only, to this extent”,^[7] and medieval Latin also uses it as “at least, that is to say, to be sure” and “namely”.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a limit of one mina.^[3][6]
• 234–149 BC – Cato of limits and conditions.^[3][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of “at least”.^[3][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy: nōn dumtaxat … sed.^[3][6]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Up to, not exceeding, at most; not less than.^[3]
2. Only, merely, just; up to a point;^[3][2][1][7] nōn dumtaxat … sed, not only … but also.^[3]
3. Provided that, as long as.^[3][1]
4. At any rate, at least.^[3][1][8]
5. (Medieval Latin) That is to say, namely.^[8]

Related words

• dum
• tangō
• taxō
• sōlum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill