idem

Forms

īdem (feminine eadem, neuter idem); demonstrative pronoun (with m optionally → n in compounds) with an indeclinable portion^[1]

Etymology

It is the pronoun is with an enclitic particle ⟨-em⟩: the neuter ⟨id-em⟩ was misdivided as ⟨i-dem⟩, and ⟨-dem⟩ was then added to the other forms (⟨eadem⟩, ⟨eundem⟩).^[2][3][1] Old Latin ⟨*isdem⟩ gave the masculine ⟨īdem⟩ (inscriptions also have ⟨eidem⟩, ⟨eisdem⟩ and ⟨eisdim⟩).^[2][3] The TLL leaves open whether ⟨īdem⟩ comes from ⟨*is-dem⟩ or was formed from ⟨-dem⟩ after the misdivision.^[4]

Compare Oscan ísídum (“the same”) and Sanskrit इदम् (idám, “this”).^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Livius Andronicus on.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Īdem means “the same”: the same as something just mentioned (īdem … quī “the same … as”), the same as before or in each case, and in a weakened sense “he too, likewise”, linking a second statement to the same subject (“at the same time”).^[3][6] With ipse it means “the very same”.^[7]

In Medieval Latin it was a demonstrative “the said, this” and a personal pronoun “he, she, it”.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 280–200 BC – First found in Livius Andronicus.^[2][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: mihi sententia eadem est.^[3][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence: in eōdem lutō haesitās, “you are stuck in the same mud”.^[3][5]
• c. 550–1150 – Medieval Latin uses it for “the said” and “he”.^[8]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. The same.^[3][6]
2. The same (as before, or in each case).^[3]
3. He too, likewise; also, at the same time.^[3]
4. (Medieval Latin) The said, this; he, she, it.^[8]

Word family

• identidem

Related words

• is
• ipse

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill