magnopere

Forms

magnopere (comparative magis, superlative maximē or maximopere)^[1] Plautus, Caesar, Livy and Seneca write it as one word, but the best manuscripts of Terence, Cicero and Pliny the Elder have magnō opere.^[2] The comparative is magis and the superlative maximē or maximopere.^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin magnō (“great”) + opere (“work”), the ablative of ⟨magnum opus⟩, so literally with great labour.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces magnus to Proto-Italic *magno- (“great”) and Proto-Indo-European *mǵ-no- (“great”), and opus to *opes- (“work”) and *h₃ep-os (“work”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From with great labour it came to mean very much, greatly or exceedingly, and earnestly or urgently.^[2][1] Döderlein notes that valdē, admodum and multum strengthen an adjective or a verb, but magnopere only a verb.^[5] Church Latin glosses it greatly, very much, exceedingly.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus writes it as one word.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero writes magnō opere.^[2][3]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar writes it as one word.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Very much, greatly, exceedingly.^[2][6][1]
2. Earnestly, urgently.^[1]

Related words

• tantopere

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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson