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festinanter

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word festinanter

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Latin festīnō

Forms

festīnanter (comparative festīnantius, superlative festīnantissimē)[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin festīnāns (“hurrying”) + -ter, an adverb from the present participle of festīnō (“to hurry”).[2][3] De Vaan traces the verb to a noun Proto-Italic *fristi- (“haste”), Proto-Indo-European *bʰristi-, which the adverb cōnfestim also points to.[4] Cognate with Welsh brys (“haste; speedy”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short cite it from Cicero, who says that something seems to have been said too hastily, nimium festīnanter dictum.[5][3]

Semantic evolution

It means hastily or speedily,[5][2] sometimes with too much haste.[2] Columella contrasts oxen that eat in a hurry with those that eat at leisure, and Velleius uses it of recalling a son in haste.[3] The comparative festīnantius is in Celsus, Columella, Tacitus and Gellius, and the superlative festīnantissimē in Augustine.[3][5]

British medieval writers used it for quickly or promptly, from the penitential of Theodore on.[6] Church Latin has it for hastily or in haste.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of something said too hastily.[5][8]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of oxen that eat hastily.[3][8]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses the comparative.[3][8]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses the superlative.[3][8]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Hastily, speedily, promptly.[2][5]
  2. Too hastily, hurriedly.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Festinanter.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/festinanter. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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