eodem

Forms

eōdem (not comparable)^[1] Terence, Lucilius and Lucretius scan it as two syllables.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from eō (“thither”) and the suffix -dem, as īdem (“the same”) is from is (“he, that”); the OLD files it under ⟨īdem⟩, and Lewis and Short call it an old dative and ablative of the pronoun.^[1][2][3] De Vaan traces ⟨is⟩ to Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)i- (“he, she, it”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Mercator: an old man counts his eighty-four years, et eōdem accēdit servitūs, “and on top of that comes slavery”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is “to the same place”, and also “in the same direction” or “to the same end”: Cicero says all the towns lean the same way.^[2] With verbs of adding it is “to the above”, as in Plautus, and Cicero also uses it of time, “till then”, putting matters off to the same moment.^[2] Rarely it means “in the same place”, with a genitive: eōdem locī, “in the same position”.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus with verbs of adding.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of direction, purpose and time.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. To the same place.^[2][1]
2. In the same direction, to the same purpose.^[2]
3. (with verbs of adding) To the above, besides.^[2]
4. Till then, to the same moment.^[2]
5. (rare, with genitive) In the same place: eōdem locī.^[3]

Related words

• īdem
• eō
• is

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de