Etymologically
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ibi

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈɪ.biː], [ˈɪ.bɪ][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈiː.bi][1]

Forms

ibī̆ [1] Archaic inscriptions usually spell it ibei.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *iþei (“there”), from the pronominal stem Proto-Indo-European *h₁i- of is with a locative suffix.[3][1][2] De Vaan notes that the suffix may be ⟨*-bʰei⟩, like the instrumental ending ⟨*-bʰi⟩, or ⟨*-dʰei⟩ with ⟨b⟩ taken from ubi; the parallel of Sanskrit makes him prefer ⟨*-dʰei⟩.[3] The final ⟨-ī⟩ was often shortened.[1][2]

Cognate with Umbrian ife (“there”), Sanskrit इह (ihá, “here”) and Avestan idā (“here”).[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Livius Andronicus on:[3][4] ibi manēns sedētō dōnicum vidēbis mē … domum vēnisse, “stay sitting there until you see I have come home”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Ibi means “there, in that place”, and of time “then, there and then, thereupon”.[2][1] It also refers to a matter or situation, “in that, in that case”.[2][5] Its compounds include ibīdem “in the same place” and inibi “there”.[3]

In Medieval Latin it was used like a dative pronoun, “to it”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 280–200 BC – First found in Livius Andronicus.[2][3][4]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of time: ibīque latrōnēs dicta facessunt, “and there and then the soldiers carry out the orders”.[2][4]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: numquid ego ibi, pater, peccāvī? “did I do wrong in that, father?”[2][4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. In that place, there.[2][7][1][5]
  2. (of time) then, there and then, thereupon.[2][1]
  3. In that (matter or situation).[2][5]
  4. (Medieval Latin) To it.[6]

Word family

  • ibīdem
  • inibi
  • interibi
  • postibi
  • alibī
  • nūllibī

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f 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 c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press