octogesimus

Forms

octōgēsimus (feminine octōgēsima, neuter octōgēsimum); first/second-declension numeral^[1] Variant spellings are ⟨octōgēnsimus⟩, in Pliny the Younger and Juvenal, and ⟨octāgēsimus⟩, in Ulpian.^[2][3] Christian writers such as Cyprian, Ambrose and Jerome have ⟨octuāgēsimus⟩,^[4] the usual form in British medieval texts.^[5]

Etymology

It is from Latin octōgintā (“eighty”) + -ēsimus.^[2][1][4] De Vaan lists octōgintā among the derivatives of octō (“eight”), from Proto-Italic *oktō and Proto-Indo-European *h₃(e)ḱtéh₃ (“eight”);^[6] for eighty he compares Sanskrit अशीति (aśītí-, “eighty”) and Ancient Greek ὀγδοήκοντα (ogdoḗkonta, “eighty”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and Georges find it first in Varro.^[7][3] In Cicero's dialogue on old age Cato says that he is in his eighty-fourth year.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

It is the ordinal number eightieth.^[2][8] Juvenal counts a man's age by his eightieth solstice,^[8] and as a feminine noun it means an eightieth part, as in Vitruvius and the jurist Maecianus.^[2][9] Priscian lists it among the ordinal numbers.^[4]

Medieval writers used it in dates and counts: Aldhelm of an Olympiad, Alcuin of his eighty-second year in a letter of 799, Grosseteste of the eighty-ninth psalm, and many charters in the year of the Lord.^[5]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it, the earliest author Köbler records.^[7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero has Cato speak of his eighty-fourth year.^[8][7]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of an eightieth solstice.^[8][7]
• 799 – Alcuin uses it of his eighty-second year in a letter.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Eightieth.^[2][8]
2. (feminine as noun) An eightieth part.^[2][9]

Related words

• octōgintā
• octō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c 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
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier