obiter

Forms

obiter (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ob (“towards, in front of”), but its formation is disputed.^[2][3] The OLD and Wiktionary take it from ob and iter (“way”), “on the way”, and the grammarian Priscian already called it a compound of the two;^[3][1][2] the TLL thinks this unlikely and compares the adverb ending in circiter (“about”) beside circā.^[2] De Vaan traces ob to Proto-Italic *op(i) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁opi (“at, by”), cognate with Oscan úp (“at”) and Ancient Greek ἐπί (epí, “on, at”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short and Köbler find it first in Laberius;^[5][6] otherwise Lewis & Short find it no earlier than the Augustan age, and report from Charisius that Augustus blamed Tiberius for writing per viam instead of obiter.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is on the way, in passing: Juvenal has someone who will read or write on the way,^[3] and Pliny the Elder has water that turns mill wheels as it flows along.^[5] From this it came to mean at the same time, meanwhile, as in Petronius, where people did not keep quiet even at a tiresome task but sang the while,^[3] and incidentally, besides, into the bargain.^[3] Of speech and writing it means in passing, cursorily, as in Pliny the Elder's haec sint obiter dicta, “let this be said in passing”.^[3] Rarely it means straightaway, as in Apuleius.^[5] In medieval British Latin it means on the way and also meanwhile.^[7]

Timeline

• 106–43 BC – Laberius uses it.^[5][6]
• before 66 AD – Petronius, “at the same time” and “into the bargain”.^[3][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, of things said in passing.^[3][6]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal, of reading on the way.^[3][6]

Meanings

Adverb

1. On the way, en route, in passing.^[3][5][1]
2. At the same time, meanwhile.^[3][8]
3. Incidentally, besides, into the bargain.^[3][1]
4. Of speech or writing: in passing, cursorily.^[3][5]
5. Straightaway, immediately (rare).^[5]

Related words

• ob
• iter
• English obiter dictum

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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 f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn