Etymologically
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exterior

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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]

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