Etymologically
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oppido

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Forms

oppidō (not comparable)[1]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.[1][2] The OLD sees no necessary connection with oppidum (“town”),[1] but de Vaan lists it under that noun and reports Nussbaum's explanation as “to the ground”, hence “utterly”, from the ⟨*ped-⟩ “place, ground” of Proto-Italic *op-pe/od-o-.[3] The TLL takes it as the ablative of an adjective ⟨*oppidus⟩ matching Ancient Greek ἔμπεδος (émpedos, “firm, steadfast”), of which oppidum would be the neuter.[4][2] Wiktionary reports the explanation as a dative of oppidum, “enough for a whole town”.[5] That was already Festus' view: farmers asked how much grain each had harvested would answer that it was enough even for a town.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first,[6][3] as in oppido interii, “I am done for completely”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is an intensifying adverb, “utterly, very”, mostly with adjectives and adverbs and less often with verbs.[7][1] Lewis & Short note that it belongs to familiar speech and is not found in Cicero's speeches;[2][7] Cicero has it in his letters and dialogues, as oppido pauci, “very few”.[2][7] Terence uses it, and in Plautus and Terence it can stand alone as an answer, “quite so”.[2][7] Livy and Vitruvius have oppido quam, “exceedingly”.[1][7] Quintilian says the speakers just before his time had used it, but it was already obsolete in his day;[1][2] Apuleius and Ammianus take it up again.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, “utterly”.[2][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence, of being very angry.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, in letters and dialogues.[2][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, oppido quam.[1][6]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian calls it obsolete.[1][6]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus revives it.[7][6]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Utterly, completely, exceedingly, very.[1][2][5]
  2. oppido quam: exceedingly, extremely.[1][7]
  3. As an answer: quite so, certainly.[2][7]

References

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