Etymologically
Log in

paulatim

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 21:37. This address is a permanent link to this version.
← Previous version Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pau̯ˈɫaː.tĩː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [pau̯ˈlaː.tim][1]

Forms

paulātim (not comparable)[1] It is also spelled paullātim, but the TLL finds no early evidence for that spelling.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from paulus (“little”) (or the neuter paulum (“a little”)) with the adverb suffix -ātim.[1][2][3][4] De Vaan lists it among the words of paucus (“few”): he doubts that paulus comes from ⟨*pauk-slo-⟩, as Walde held, and cites Thurneysen's view that it is ⟨*pau-re-lo-⟩, a diminutive of parvus (“small”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[5][6] who has labefactō paulātim, “I'll loosen it little by little”.[4]

Semantic evolution

Paulātim is “little by little, by degrees, gradually” (Caesar: the Germans were gradually getting used to crossing the Rhine), and “a small amount at a time, bit by bit” (Terence: cautim et paulātim dabis, “you'll give carefully and a little at a time”).[2][4][1] Lewis & Short give sēnsim as a synonym.[4]

Church Latin glosses it “gradually, little by little, a few at a time”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: labefactō paulātim.[4][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence: cautim et paulātim dabis.[2][6]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of the Germans crossing the Rhine.[4][6]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Little by little, by degrees, gradually.[2][4][1][7]
  2. A little at a time, bit by bit; a few at a time.[2][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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