Etymologically
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iamdudum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [janˈduː.dũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [janˈduː.dum][1]

Forms

iamdūdum (not comparable)[1] It is also written as two words, and Plautus splits it.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin iam (“now, already”) + dūdum (“for a long time”).[1][3] De Vaan explains dūdum as a root “long (time)”, the zero grade of Proto-Indo-European *duh₂- (“far, long”), with the enclitic -dum; he compares Ancient Greek δήν (dḗn, “long”).[4] He takes iam as an old accusative of a pronoun, Proto-Indo-European *h₁i-h₂-m (“this”), first “as far as this is concerned”, then “now”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Plautus,[3] who has “I told you long ago”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means long since or a long time ago, and with the present or imperfect that something has gone on for a long time, as Terence's “I've been here for a long time” and Ovid's “I had long been weeping”.[2] Cicero uses it of someone long awaited and of something he has long been urging.[2] In poetry it also means at once or forthwith, as Virgil's “take your vengeance at once” and often in Ovid.[2] Church Latin glosses it “now, for a long time”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of something said long ago.[2][3]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of having been somewhere a long time.[2][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a man long awaited.[2][3]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil in the sense “at once”.[2][3]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Long since, a long time ago; for a long time now.[2][5][1]
  2. (poetic) At once, forthwith.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson