inibi

Forms

inibi (adverb)^[1] The final -i is short, as in ibi.^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + ibī (“there”).^[1][2] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of ibī,^[3] which he traces to Proto-Italic *iþei or Proto-Italic *ifei and Proto-Indo-European *h₁i-dʰei or Proto-Indo-European *h₁i-bʰei.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,^[3] meaning “therein”: in the Persa someone should have a purse with a little help in it.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The TLL lists Plautus, Caecilius, Cato, Pacuvius, Afranius and Cicero as its earliest users;^[2] Gellius is fond of it, and Apuleius uses it often.^[2] Besides “there, in that place”, it was used of a writing (“in that book”), of a number (“among them”), of a point in time and of a respect (“in that connection”).^[1][4] The phrase inibi esse meant that something was close at hand: in Caecilius one speaker, asked whether he is free, answers that he is not, but nearly, and Cicero hopes that something is inibi or already done.^[1][5]

Medieval writers used it much in charters, of a place, a text and also of motion, “thither”.^[6][7] The TLL notes an Old Northern Italian continuant inve.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for “in it”.^[1][8]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it in his work on farming.^[1][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses inibi esse for something close at hand.^[1][8]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of a point in time.^[1][8]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In that place, there, therein; in that book.^[1][9]
2. Among them, in that number.^[1][5]
3. At that moment, thereupon.^[1][10]
4. In that respect, in that connection.^[1][4]
5. (in inibi esse) To be close at hand, about to happen.^[1][5]
6. (Medieval Latin) To that place, thither.^[6][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c 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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.