etsi

Forms

etsī ^[1] It is also written as two words.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from et (“even”) and sī (“if”).^[2][1][3][4] De Vaan traces et to Proto-Italic *eti and Proto-Indo-European *h₁eti (“still, also”), cognate with Ancient Greek ἔτι (éti, “still, yet”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[5] who has manē, etsī properās, “wait, even if you're in a hurry”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Etsī is “even if, although”, usually with the indicative, and often answered by tamen (Cicero: one who, though condemned, still seems to me among the best of men).^[2][4][1] It also qualifies a single word or phrase (Cicero: helpful though not necessary).^[2] Introducing a main clause it means “and yet, although” as a correction (Plautus: etsī iam ego ipse quid sit prope scīre putō mē, “and yet I think I nearly know what it is”).^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “although, even if”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: manē, etsī properās.^[2][3]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: etsī nōn necessāria.^[2][3]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. Even if, although, though.^[2][4][1][6]
2. (introducing a main clause) And yet.^[2]

Word family

• tametsī

Related words

• et
• sī
• etiamsī
• quamquam

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson