exterior

Forms

exterior m or f, exterius n (genitive exteriōris); comparative of exter^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin exter (“outside, foreign”), in the comparative degree with the suffix -ior.^[1][2][3] De Vaan lists it, with extrā, externus and extrēmus, among the derivatives of ex (“out of”), from Proto-Italic *eks (“out”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs (“out”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro;^[3][4] Köbler lists Plautus among its sources.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The comparative hardly differs in meaning from the positive, “outer, outside”, and is rare but classical, opposed to interior.^[5] Cicero has the outer of two circles and Caesar the outer siege works and the enemy outside the lines;^[5] Horace uses comes exterior of a companion who walks on a person's outer side as a mark of respect.^[1][5] From Seneca on it is used of the outward and visible as against what is within, and the neuter plural exteriōra are external things.^[1][6] Christian writers, from Augustine and Gregory the Great, set exteriōra, worldly things, against interiōra, the things of the soul.^[6] In Medieval Latin it also became a noun: an outsider or stranger, the outer side, and a worldly matter;^[4] British texts use it for outlying lands and for pleas beyond a set limit.^[7]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – First recorded, in Varro.^[3][4]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar writes of the outer siege works.^[5][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses comes exterior of a companion walking on the outer side.^[1][4]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca contrasts outward appearance with what is within.^[1][6][4]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine contrasts interiōra and exteriōra.^[6][4]
• 817–855 AD – First use as a noun, “outsider”, in charters.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. outer, situated on the outside, exterior;^[1][5] in exteriōra, outwards.^[1][5]
2. Walking on a person's outer or unguarded side (as a mark of respect).^[1][5]
3. outward and visible;^[1][6] (neuter plural as noun) outward appearance, external things.^[1][6]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Worldly, temporal, as opposed to inner or spiritual.^[6][8]
5. (Medieval Latin) Outlying.^[7]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) An outsider, stranger.^[4]
2. (Medieval Latin) The outer side; a worldly matter.^[4]

Related words

• interior
• externus
• extrēmus

References

1. ^ 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
2. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson