nimirum

Forms

nīmīrum (not comparable)^[1] It is also written as two words, nī mīrum.^[2]

Etymology

It is a fusion of nī (“if not, unless”) and mīrum (“a wonder”), the neuter of mīrus (“wonderful”): literally “unless it is a wonder”.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces ⟨nī⟩ to Proto-Indo-European *nei, ⟨ne⟩ “not” with a deictic particle;^[4] ⟨mīrus⟩ goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sméyros (“laughing, smiling”), and is related to English smile.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Plautus as its first author.^[5] Terence has nīmīrum hominēs frīgent, “they are surely given a cold welcome”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It puts forward a statement as beyond doubt: “without doubt, evidently, of course”, often in Cicero.^[2][3] It answers questions: Cicero has a speaker asked what that matters reply nīmīrum, “why, the whole case turns on it”.^[2] Very often it is ironic, “to be sure, forsooth”: Horace asks whether things will always go well for the rich man alone, and Tacitus mocks a general who shuts himself in, ready, no doubt, to endure a siege.^[2][3] Lewis and Short note it is weaker than mīrum nī.^[3]

Church Latin glosses it “truly, certainly, undoubtedly”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^[5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence in the sense “surely”.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero in answers.^[2][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace in ironic use.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Without doubt, evidently, of course, surely.^[2][1][6]
2. (in answers) Why, of course.^[2]
3. (ironic) To be sure, forsooth.^[2][1][3]

Related words

• nī
• mīrus
• mīror

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson