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omnimodis

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word omnimodis

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
96–55 BC, Lucretius
Ultimate origin
Latin (omnis,modus)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin omnis
Latin omnipotens
Latin omnimodis

Forms

omnimodīs (adverb, not comparable)[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin omnis (“all, every”) + modus (“way, manner”), a fusion of the ablative plural phrase ⟨omnibus modīs⟩, “in all ways”.[1][3][4] Lewis & Short compare multimodīs and mīrimodīs, made in the same way.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first certain author is Lucretius, who uses it several times.[3][2][5] A reading omnimodīs in Plautus' Stichus (line 684), adopted by Scaliger and Lindsay for the metre, is only a correction: the manuscripts have omnibus modīs.[3]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it a word of Lucretius and of Late Latin.[2] The TLL finds it often in prose from Apuleius onwards, but in poetry only in Cyprianus Gallus;[3] Georges adds Ambrose and Cassiodorus.[4] Ancient glossaries explain it as omnīnō, “altogether”.[3] In Medieval Latin it meant “entirely, in every respect”, and with a negative “in no way”.[6][7]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it several times.[2][5]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it in the Florida.[2][4][5]
  • c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus has it in the Variae.[4][5]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. In every possible way, by all means.[1][4]
  2. Wholly, entirely, altogether.[2][3]
  3. (Medieval Latin) (with a negative) in no way, not at all.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
  7. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
Cite this entry

“Omnimodis.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/omnimodis. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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