grate

Forms

grātē (comparative grātius, superlative grātissimē)^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin grātus (“pleasing; grateful”) + -ē.^[2][1] De Vaan traces grātus to Proto-Italic *gʷrāto- (“grateful”) and Proto-Indo-European *gʷr̥H-to- (“praised in a song”), with cognates in Oscan brateis (“of grace”) and Sanskrit गृणाति (gṛṇā́ti, “to praise, welcome”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero.^[4] In the OLD's first quotation Cicero asks what someone has done dutifully, what gratefully.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is either with gratitude or with pleasure: Cicero writes that the wise man gladly remembers the past.^[2] Objectively it is pleasantly: Pliny the Elder says that a seed gives bread a most pleasant flavour.^[2] Later writers use it of acting in a thankful or fitting way, as in the Digest, Ausonius and Augustine.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of acting gratefully and of remembering gladly.^[2][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of a pleasant flavour.^[2][4]
• 533 AD – The Digest uses it.^[5][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. With gratitude, gratefully, thankfully.^[2][1]
2. With pleasure, gladly, willingly.^[2][1]
3. Pleasantly, agreeably.^[2]

Related words

• grātēs
• grātia
• grātus

References

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