instar

Forms

īnstar n (indeclinable; found only as nominative or accusative)^[2][1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain; the OLD calls it doubtful and Wiktionary obscure.^[2][1] Lewis and Short and Walde–Hofmann connect it with in- and the root of stō (“to stand”), as if “to stand in” and so “balance”.^[3][4] De Vaan objects that a Latin infinitive was not used as a neuter noun, that the loss of the final ⟨-e⟩ would be unusual and that the meaning fits poorly, since ⟨instō⟩ means “to press on”; he suggests instead an old compound ⟨*(h₁e)n-steh₂-os⟩ “the standing in”, “the cost”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro,^[4] who speaks of an author who removed from Mago's work the equivalent of eight books.^[2] Köbler gives Cicero.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is the equivalent in measure, counterpart or equal, as Varro's laena, a cloak worth two togas in wool, and the equivalent in effect or worth, as Cicero's “that one day on which I returned to my country was for me the equal of immortality”.^[2] With a genitive it expresses degree, as Catullus' man who has not the sense of a two-year-old boy, and ad instar is according to the pattern of something, as Apuleius' hair that gives back an image like a mirror.^[2] Lewis and Short also give image or likeness.^[3]

Church Latin uses it for image, likeness or appearance, and with a genitive “like, after the fashion of”.^[6] In medieval Latin it is also a pattern, model or sample, and a copy.^[7]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro of the equivalent of eight books.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a day worth immortality.^[2][5]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of a man with a toddler's sense.^[2][5]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius with ad instar.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The equivalent in measure, counterpart, equal.^[2][1]
2. The equivalent in effect or worth.^[2][1]
3. With a genitive, to the extent of, as much as.^[2]
4. ad instar: after the pattern of, like.^[2][6]
5. An image, likeness, resemblance.^[3][1][6]
6. (Medieval Latin) A pattern, model, sample; a copy.^[7]

Related words

• stō
• instō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill