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Etymology and origin of the Latin word pone

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*pos(ti))
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin post
Latin pone
Latin postmodo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpoː.nɛ][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɔː.ne][1]

Forms

pōne (+ accusative)[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin post (“behind, after”) + -ne, formed like superne (“from above”) from ⟨*post-ne⟩.[2][3][4] Both were first adverbs, and the TLL compares Umbrian postne of the same meaning and formation.[3] De Vaan traces post to Proto-Italic *posti (“behind, after”) and Proto-Indo-European *pos(ti) (“after”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it as a preposition in the Curculio (I cannot watch what is behind me) and in the Poenulus (step back behind us).[2][4]

Semantic evolution

As an adverb it means behind or in the rear, as Virgil has of Eurydice following behind,[2] or from behind, as Terence has of a boy who catches someone by the cloak from behind.[2] Cicero's Timaeus has it of movement forward and backward.[2] Lewis & Short find it rare and mostly poetic, and Quintilian already counted it as archaic;[5] Festus says the ancients used it of place.[5] Stelten gives “behind, at the back of, after”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, as a preposition.[2][4][7]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence, “from behind”.[2][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of Eurydice following behind.[2][7]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian calls it archaic.[5][7]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. In the rear, behind; from behind; backwards.[2][5][1][6]

Preposition

  1. (with accusative) Behind, in the rear of; to the rear of.[2][5][1][6]

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 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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Pone.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/pone. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·