emetior

Forms

ēmētior (present infinitive ēmētīrī, perfect active ēmēnsus sum); fourth conjugation, deponent^[1] The spelling ēmītior is found in some manuscripts.^[2] The perfect participle ēmēnsus is sometimes passive in meaning.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + mētior (“to measure”).^[3][2][1] De Vaan explains mētior as a verb made from a noun Proto-Italic *mēti- (“measurement”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-ti- (“measurement”).^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek μῆτις (mêtis, “wisdom, skill”) and Old English mǣd (“measure”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first examples in the OLD are in Horace, who asks why a rich man does not measure out something for his country from his great heap, and in Virgil, of a warrior measuring the distance for his spear by eye.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It means to measure out or deal by measure, and to measure a distance;^[3][5] Lewis & Short note it is not frequent until after the Augustan age.^[3][5] Gellius uses it of the lengths and heights of the voice.^[5] Its commonest use is to cover a distance, complete a journey, or pass over or through a place, as Virgil's “having finished our journey we have overcome every mishap”.^[3][5] Seneca uses it of living out one's life and of enduring hardships to the end.^[3] Wiktionary also gives to impart or bestow.^[1]

Timeline

• 65–8 BC – Horace of measuring out from a heap.^[3][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of measuring a distance and completing a journey.^[3][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses the participle in a passive sense.^[3][6]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of living out one's life.^[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To measure out, deal out by measure; to measure a distance.^[3][5][1]
2. To cover a distance, complete a journey, traverse.^[3][5][1]
3. To live out a period; to endure hardships to the end.^[3]
4. To impart, bestow.^[1]

Word family

• emensio

Related words

• mētior

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de