nove

Forms

novē (comparative novius, superlative novissimē)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin novus (“new”) + -ē, the adverb of the adjective.^[2][1] The adjective novus goes back to Proto-Italic *nowo- and Proto-Indo-European *néwos (“new, young”).^[3] Cognate with Hittite nēwa- (“new, fresh”), Sanskrit नव (náva-, “new”) and Ancient Greek νέος (néos, “new, young”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Plautus,^[4] whose Epidicus admires women dressed “how charmingly, how neatly, how fashionably!”^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its senses are “in an up-to-date manner, à la mode”, in Plautus, and “in a new or unfamiliar manner”, as in the advice of the Rhetorica ad Herennium that nothing should be said confusedly or in an unfamiliar way.^[2] Its superlative novissimē is treated separately in the OLD.^[2] Church Latin glosses it “recently, lately, newly, in an unusual manner”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of fashionable dress.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In a new or unfamiliar manner, newly.^[2][1]
2. In an up-to-date manner, fashionably.^[2][1]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Recently, lately.^[5]

Related words

• novus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson