Etymologically
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obiter

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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]

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