extrinsecus

Forms

extrīnsecus (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from exter (“outward”), in an adverbial form like ⟨extrim⟩, and secus (“beside, on the side”).^[1][2][3] De Vaan lists it with ⟨secus⟩, like altrinsecus (“on the other side”), and traces ⟨secus⟩ to Proto-Italic *sekʷos (“separate”), following Klingenschmitt's Proto-Indo-European *se-ḱuo- (“by itself, separate”); cognate with Old Irish sech (“past, without”) and Welsh heb (“without”).^[4] Priscian and Servius already discussed it among the local adverbs formed from prepositions.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cato,^[3] who tells the farmer to smear the bottom of a chest with oil lees, and the outside, feet and corners.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It means “from without”, as Varro's hawk swooping in from outside, “on the outside, externally” (Cato), and in Celsus “outwards”.^[6] Cicero uses it of things sought from an outside source, and of the gifts of fortune that come from outside, as birth and beauty.^[6][2] In Late Latin it is also an adjective, “outer”, as in Tertullian.^[2]

Church Latin glosses the adverb “on the outside, from without” and the adjective “outer, extrinsic, inessential”.^[7] In medieval sources the adjective or noun can mean an exile.^[8]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato of smearing a chest on the outside.^[6][3]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of a hawk from outside.^[6][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of things from an outside source.^[6][3]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian as an adjective, “outer”.^[2][3]
• 1540s – English extrinsic is formed from the Late Latin adjective, through French.^[9]

Meanings

Adverb

1. From without; on the outside, externally; outwards.^[6][2][1][7]
2. From an outside source; in outward circumstances.^[6]

Adjective

1. (Late Latin) Outer, extrinsic.^[2][1][7]
2. (Medieval Latin) An exile.^[8]

Related words

• exter
• secus
• intrīnsecus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com