hac
Pronunciation
Forms
hāc (not comparable)[1]
Etymology
It is the feminine ablative singular of hic (“this”).[2][1][3] De Vaan traces ⟨hic⟩ to Proto-Italic *χo and the demonstrative stem Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰe- (“this”) with the particle Proto-Indo-European *-ḱe (“here”); the stem is also in Faliscan hac (“this”).[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
De Vaan gives Plautus as its first author.[3] In the Amphitruo sequere hāc mē modo, “just follow me this way”.[2]
Semantic evolution
It means “this way, by this route”, and hāc … illāc is “this way … that way”.[2] Plautus also uses it of manner, “in this way”.[2] It means “on this side”: in Ennius' Annals Jupiter now stands on this side.[2] The phrase hāc rē is “for this reason”.[4]
Church Latin has it as “here, in this way, by this side”, and hāc illāc as “here and there”.[5] It survives in hāctenus (“thus far”).[1]
Timeline
- c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of direction and manner.[3][2][6]
- 204–169 BC – Ennius in the sense “on this side”.[2][6]
Meanings
Adverb
- This way, by this route;[2][1][5] hāc … illāc, this way … that way.[2][1][5]
- In this way, thus.[2][1]
- On this side.[2][5]
Word family
- hāctenus
Related words
- hic
- illāc
- istāc
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
- ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de