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hodie

Etymology and origin of the Latin word hodie

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
Naevius

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈhɔ.di.eː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɔː.di.e][1]

Forms

hodiē (not comparable)[1]

Etymology

It is a compound of hōc “this” and diēs “day”, “on this day”.[2][3][1] The second part probably continues an old ablative *diēd.[2] Cognate with Faliscan foied (“today”).[2] Isidore explains it the same way, as “as it were, on this day”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Naevius.[2][5] In Plautus a character hopes “to spend this day in style”.[3] Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant today, as against crās “tomorrow” and herī “yesterday”, and then at the present time, nowadays.[3][6] In colloquial Latin it was also used without any time sense, to add emphasis, especially in negative threats, “ever”.[3] Hodiē māne was “this morning”.[7]

Its adjective is hodiernus “of today”.[1] It survives in Italian oggi, Spanish hoy and Portuguese hoje, and in Old French hui.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.[2][5]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus hopes to spend the day in style.[3][5]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore explains it as “on this day”.[4][5]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Today.[3]
  2. Nowadays, at present.[3]
  3. (emphatic, in threats) Ever, at all.[3]

Word family

  • hodiernus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
Cite this entry

“Hodie.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/hodie. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·