placide

Forms

placidē (comparative placidius, superlative placidissimē)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin placidus (“calm, gentle”) + -ē.^[2] The adjective placidus is formed from placeō (“to please”),^[1] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *plak-ē- and Proto-Indo-European *pl(e)h₂/₃k- (“to agree, be pleasant”); its only direct cognate is Tocharian A plāk- (“to agree”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first example in the OLD is in a tragedy of Naevius: “look calmly at the girl's form and face”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means quietly and calmly, and of movement slowly, as in Plautus' “why are you walking so slowly, boy?”;^[2] Caesar has Labienus advancing slowly.^[4] In Sallust it means mildly or in a conciliatory way.^[2] Livy uses it of hills sloping gently.^[2] Wiktionary also gives peacefully and placidly.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius in the sense calmly.^[2][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of walking slowly.^[2][5]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust in the sense mildly.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of gently sloping hills.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Quietly, calmly; slowly.^[2][1]
2. Mildly, in a conciliatory way.^[2]
3. Gently, gradually.^[2][1]

Related words

• placidus
• placeō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de