Etymologically
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postilla

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Forms

postillā (not comparable)[1][2] Manuscripts often confuse it with ⟨post illam⟩ and similar phrases.[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin post (“after”) + illā (“that”), the preposition with the ablative of ille (“that”).[1][3][4] The preposition goes back to Proto-Italic *posti (“behind, after”) and Proto-Indo-European *pos(ti) (“after”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,[6] who uses it, as in the Captivi, for “afterwards, after that time”.[7][2][3]

Semantic evolution

The TLL finds it in early Latin, in Catullus and in Fronto.[3] It mostly refers to past events, often with words that say when or how often something happened: numquam, semper, extemplo in Plautus, saepe in Cato and nunc primum in Terence; in Terence's Phormio it refers to the future.[3] The grammarian Arusianus explains it as postea, citing Terence.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for “afterwards”.[7][6]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato writes saepe postilla.[3][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of the future in the Phormio.[3][6]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it.[7][6]
  • 100–170 AD – Fronto uses it.[3][6]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Afterwards, after that time, thereafter.[1][7][2]

Usage notes

Medieval Latin has a separate feminine noun postilla, a note or comment on a passage of Scripture or another work, a postil, and a collection of such comments or homilies;[8][9] in Ecclesiastical Latin it is a popular commentary on the liturgical readings.[10] The DMLBS calls its origin doubtful,[8] and Köbler dates it from 1271.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  5. ^ 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 g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b 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
  9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson