passim

Forms

passim (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is an adverb in -tim (⟨-im⟩) formed on ⟨passus⟩, the participle of pandō (“to spread out”), literally “in a scattered way”.^[2][3][1][4] De Vaan traces the verb to the nasal present Proto-Indo-European *pt-n(é)-h₂- (“to spread”), cognate with Oscan patensíns (“they might open”) and Ancient Greek πίτνημι (pítnēmi, “to spread out”); the participle ⟨passus⟩ goes back to ⟨*patto-⟩, with the full grade of pateō.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius, Annals, of victors overcome by sleep after wine, in campō passim, “scattered over the plain”.^[2][6] De Vaan records it from Plautus on.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is “in a scattered way, here and there”; then “in every part, all over” (Accius) and “in every direction” (Catullus: each went off vagō passim pede).^[2][1] Cato already uses it for what happens without order or distinction, “indiscriminately, at random”, of Roman citizens enrolled as rowers and sold.^[2] Brutus contrasts himself with Antony: ille iit passim, ego ōrdinātim, “he went anyhow, I in order”.^[3]

Church Latin glosses it “here and there, far and wide, up and down, everywhere”.^[7] In modern scholarly English passim marks a word or subject found in many places in a work.^[4]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius of sleepers scattered over the plain.^[2][6]
• 234–149 BC – Cato in the sense “indiscriminately”.^[2][6]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius in the sense “all over the place”.^[2][6]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In a scattered way, here and there.^[2][1][7]
2. everywhere, all over; in every direction.^[2][1][7]
3. Without order, indiscriminately, at random.^[2][1]

Related words

• pandō
• passus
• pateō
• English passim

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson