meus

Forms

meus (feminine mea, neuter meum); first/second-declension determiner, with locative^[1] The spelling mius appears in inscriptions, and the grammarian Velius Longus cites it as an archaism.^[2] The masculine vocative is mī;^[3] Virgil also uses meus as a vocative (sanguis meus).^[3] Plautus has a genitive plural meūm for meōrum, and the emphatic forms meāpte and meōpte.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *mejo- (“my”), a possessive adjective built on the oblique stem of the first-person pronoun (mē, see ego).^[4][2][1] De Vaan takes ⟨*mejo-⟩ as a thematization of the old genitive ⟨*mei⟩, perhaps a remake of Proto-Indo-European *h₁moi (“of me”); the genitive ⟨meī⟩ that serves the personal pronoun is in fact the genitive of the possessive.^[4]

The OLD compares the enclitic possessive Hittite -meš.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is the ablative plural meois on the Garigliano Bowl, an Old Latin inscription.^[4] In literature it is found from Naevius on;^[5] Plautus has appellat meō mē nōmine “he calls me by my name”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Meus means “my, mine” of anything possessed or used by the speaker, and emphatically “my own”; the neuter meum is “my property”, and meā rēfert or meā interest “it concerns me”.^[2] Of persons it means “related to me, my friend or dependant”: it is added to the name of a friend or relative (Catō meus), the feminine mea is “my girl, my sweetheart”, the masculine plural meī “my family, my household”, and it is common in addresses (mī Aeschine).^[2]

It also stands for a subjective or objective genitive (meā causā “for my sake”), and with the infinitive meum est means “it is my task” or “it is like me” (nōn est meum “it is not my way”).^[2] In comedy meus est means “he is in my power”.^[2]

Timeline

• Old Latin – The ablative plural meois on the Garigliano Bowl.^[4]
• c. 235–200 BC – Found in Naevius.^[5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: meus hic est, hāmum vorat, “he is mine, he is swallowing the hook”.^[2][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses the vocative: ō mī Aeschine.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses the nominative as a vocative: sanguis meus.^[3][5]

Meanings

Determiner

1. my, mine;^[2][3] (emphatic) my own.^[2]
2. (neuter as noun) My property;^[2] dē meō, at my expense.^[2]
3. meā rēfert, meā interest, it is of concern to me;^[2] quid meā?, what is that to me?^[2]
4. Related to me, my (friend, relative, servant).^[2]
5. (feminine as noun) My girl, my sweetheart;^[2] (masculine as noun) my master.^[2]
6. (masculine plural as noun) My family, my household.^[2]
7. Done or felt by me;^[2] written or said by me.^[2]
8. Felt towards me, concerning me.^[2]
9. meum est (with infinitive), it is my task;^[2] it is my way.^[2]
10. In my power.^[2]

Related words

• ego
• mē
• noster
• tuus
• suus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d 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