grate
Pronunciation
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
- With gratitude, gratefully, thankfully.[2][1]
- With pleasure, gladly, willingly.[2][1]
- Pleasantly, agreeably.[2]
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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
- ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften