minutatim

Forms

minūtātim (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from minūtus (“small”) with the adverb suffix -ātim.^[2][1] That participle belongs to minuō (“to lessen”), which de Vaan traces to a nasal present Proto-Indo-European *mi-n(e)-h₁- (“to make less”).^[3][4] Wiktionary compares the early and late ⟨minūtim⟩.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Pomponius' Atellan farces on.^[5] The OLD's first quotation is Varro's, of wine poured out little by little.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means one bit at a time, gradually, little by little, and also one by one, as in Ulpian's meeting people singly.^[2] It also means piece from piece, into small pieces: Varro has cress cut up small, and Pliny the Elder earth sifted small.^[2][6] Late glosses explain it as paulātim, gradually.^[5]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro of pouring wine little by little.^[2][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of sifting earth small.^[6]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian, one by one.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Little by little, gradually.^[2][6][1]
2. Singly, one by one.^[2][6][1]
3. Into small pieces, piecemeal.^[2][6][1]

Related words

• minūtus
• minuō
• paulātim

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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 c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press