posticus

Forms

postīcus (feminine postīca, neuter postīcum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] An inscription of Curubi has posteicuus, which the OLD takes as a spelling of postīquus.^[2] The TLL confirms the long ⟨ī⟩ from the poets.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin post (“behind, after”) + -īcus,^[2][1][3] formed like antīcus from ante.^[2][4] De Vaan explains it as Proto-Indo-European *posti-h₃kʷ-o- (“facing the back”), with the same second part as ⟨antīcus⟩.^[5] The preposition goes back to Proto-Italic *posti (“behind, after”) and Proto-Indo-European *pos(ti) (“after”).^[5] The grammarian Priscian already derived it from ⟨post⟩.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it of a back door: est etiam hīc ōstium aliud postīcum nostrārum aedium, “there is also another door at the back of our house here”.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

It was used above all of buildings and their parts, situated at the back:^[2] Varro speaks of back walls and the back part of a house,^[4] and Livy of the rear of a house.^[4] Persius has grimaces made behind someone's back, postīcae sannae,^[4] and Solinus the hind feet of an animal.^[4][7] As nouns, postīca and postīcum meant a back door;^[7] postīcum also meant a back building, the rear of a temple, and the backside.^[7] Land surveyors called the side of a plot facing away from them postīca, opposite antīca.^[7][4]

In Medieval Latin, especially as a noun, it was a back door or postern;^[8] an Anglo-Norman glossary renders it by ⟨posterne⟩.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a back door.^[4][5][6]
• end of the 2nd or beginning of the 1st century BC – Titinius uses postīcum of a back building.^[7][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of the back part of a house.^[4][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of the rear of a house.^[4][6]
• 34–62 AD – Persius speaks of grimaces made behind someone's back.^[4][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Situated at the back, rear, hind (especially of buildings).^[2][4]
2. (Medieval Latin, as a noun) A back door, postern.^[8]

Word family

• postīca
• postīcum

Usage notes

The TLL records a separate fourth-declension noun postīcus “back gate”, formed like porticus, in an inscription of Curubi from about 47 BC.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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 h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press