Etymologically
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postea

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpɔs.te.aː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɔs.te.a][1]

Forms

posteā (not comparable)[1] Inscriptions have posteac, perhaps influenced by posthāc.[2] The TLL also records the form postidea.[3]

Etymology

It is formed from post “after” and ea, the neuter plural (or ablative singular feminine) of is, “after these things”, like anteā.[2][4][3][1] Some editions write it separately, ⟨post ea⟩.[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has quid posteā?, “what next?”.[2] Köbler cites it from Cicero.[5]

Semantic evolution

Posteā is “afterwards, thereafter”, “hereafter, later” (Accius: quis vōs pāscet posteā?, “who will feed you later?”), “next” in immediate succession, and “after that” in order of value.[2][4][1] Church Latin glosses it “afterward, hereafter”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: quid posteā?.[2][5]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato: patrem prīmum, posteā patrōnum, “first the father, after him the patron”.[2][5]
  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius: quis vōs pāscet posteā?.[2][5]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. afterwards, thereafter, subsequently.[2][4][1][6]
  2. Hereafter, later.[2][6]
  3. next, then.[2][1]
  4. Next (in rank), after that.[2]

Word family

  • posteāquam

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson