faculter

Forms

faculter (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin facilis (“easy”) + -ter.^[1] Lewis & Short treat it with facul, facile and faciliter as one of the four adverbs of the adjective.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Martianus Capella, who asks why, since we say difficulter, faculter should not be said.^[3][4][2]

Semantic evolution

It is a grammarians' word.^[4][2] Festus, in Paul the Deacon's abridgement, says that the ancients used facul and also faculter for facile;^[4][2] Charisius reports that some, besides those who argued for faciliter, said that faculter ought to be used.^[4] Lewis & Short mark it as known only from such statements.^[2]

Timeline

• 5th century AD – Martianus Capella defends it by analogy with difficulter.^[4][2][3]
• 8th century AD – Paul the Deacon's abridgement of Festus calls it an old word for facile.^[4][2][3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Easily; the same as facile.^[5][1][2]

Related words

• facilis
• facul
• difficulter

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press