exter

Forms

exter (feminine extera, neuter exterum, comparative exterior, superlative extrēmus or extimus); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)^[1] The masculine nominative singular is rare;^[2][3] Lewis and Short also give exterus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *eksteros, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰsteros, formed from *h₁éǵʰs (“out”) with the contrastive suffix *-teros.^[1][3] De Vaan derives ex (“out of”) from *eks and gives the superlatives ⟨extimus⟩, from ⟨*ekstamo-⟩, and ⟨extrēmus⟩, which replaced it; Oscan ehtrad (“outside”) has the form without /s/.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Lucretius as its first author,^[5] who has vīs extera, “a force from outside”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is outside or external, and mare exterum is the ocean as against the Mediterranean, as in Seneca.^[2] It is also of another nation or family, foreign, as in an early law on “Latins or foreign nations”, and as a noun a stranger, as Columella's dogs that should snarl at strangers.^[2][3] Lewis and Short note that the masculine nominative is post-classical and very rare.^[3]

Church Latin glosses it “outward, external, foreign, strange”.^[6] Köbler records it in early medieval laws and charters.^[5]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of an outside force.^[2][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca has mare exterum.^[2][5]
• 1st century AD – Columella of strangers.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Outside, external, outer;^[2][3][1] mare exterum, the ocean.^[2][3][1]
2. Of another nation or family, foreign;^[2][3][6] (as a noun) a stranger.^[2][3][6]

Word family

• exterius
• externus
• extrā

Related words

• ex
• exterior
• extrēmus
• extimus
• extrāneus

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 l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson