posterius

Forms

posterius (comparative)^[1]

Etymology

It is the neuter of the comparative of posterus (“later, next”), used as an adverb.^[2][1] De Vaan takes posterus as the old comparative of post (“after”), from Proto-Italic *post-ero- (“later”); post goes back to Proto-Italic *posti (“behind, after”) and Proto-Indo-European *pos(ti) (“after”), comparing Oscan púst (“after, behind”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first quotations are in Plautus: in the Amphitruo a man is told not to put the blame on him later, and in the Epidicus another says that the others should speak first and they afterwards.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means at a later time, later, afterwards, and second, after someone else.^[2] With quam it is a conjunction, after: in Plautus' Asinaria a man says “you say that after I already believe you”.^[2] Lucretius uses it of the future, thereafter.^[2] The TLL quotes it from Ennius and Terence, whose line a scholiast glosses ⟨postmodo⟩.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of later blame and of speaking second.^[2][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence.^[4][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the future.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Later, afterwards; second, after another.^[2][1]
2. posterius quam, after.^[2]
3. For the future, thereafter.^[2]

Related words

• posterus
• post

References

1. ^ a b c 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de