Etymologically
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ehem

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈe.(ɦ)ẽː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɛː.em][1]

Forms

ehem (interjection)[2][3]

Etymology

It is an interjection that the OLD and the TLL compare with hem.[2][4] Köbler, after Pokorny, groups it with eheu and eho under a reconstructed interjection Proto-Indo-European *ehem.[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Plautus,[5] who has it in glad surprise at someone's arrival: ehem, optumē! quam dūdum tū advēnistī? “ah, excellent! how long ago did you arrive?”[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The TLL describes it as a cry of joy from someone who meets something unexpected with a kind of wonder.[4] It belongs to comedy and is found only in Plautus, Terence and Apuleius.[4] It greets a sudden arrival, as in Terence's ehem, opportūnē: tē ipsum quaeritō “ah, just in time: you're the man I'm looking for”,[4] or a sudden recognition: ehem, pater![4] It also marks a recollection, as in Plautus' ehem, sciō iam quid vīs dīcere “ah, now I know what you mean”.[7][2] The grammarian Palaemon lists it among the interjections, which express a feeling without teaching anything.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of glad surprise.[4][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it at sudden arrivals and recognitions.[4][3]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it.[4][3]

Meanings

Interjection

  1. An exclamation of glad surprise: ha!, oh!, well, well![2][3][1]
  2. An exclamation of sudden recollection: ah!, of course![2][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
  7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn