postumus

Forms

postumus (superlative, feminine postuma, neuter postumum); first/second declension^[1] Köbler also records the spellings posthumus and postomius.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin post (“after, behind”), with the superlative ending also found in īnfimus.^[3] De Vaan lists it with posterus, posterior and postrēmus among the derivatives of post,^[4] and Lewis & Short and Georges treat it as the superlative of posterus.^[5][6] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Italic *postəmmos and compares the Oscan forms posmom and 𐌐𐌖𐌔𐌕𐌌𐌀𐌔 (pustmas).^[1]

De Vaan traces post itself to Proto-Italic *posti (“behind, after”) and Proto-Indo-European *pos(ti) (“after”), the primary form being *pos, extended with *-ti.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus already has it: Köbler records the noun for a late-born child from him, and de Vaan the personal name Postumus.^[2][4] The adjective is found from Cicero on, meaning “last-born, final”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense was “last-born”: Virgil speaks of a postuma proles whom Lavinia will bring up for a father in his old age.^[3][7] In law it named a child born after the father's death, which Ulpian restricts to those born after a parent's death, and a child born after a will had been made, who had to be named as heir.^[3] From “last-born” it widened to “last, final”, as in Apuleius' postumae spei, “of a last hope”;^[3] Apuleius also uses it of someone outliving himself, and Tertullian of what comes after death.^[3][8]

Medieval glossaries render it with Old English words for a child born after the father's death, and British writers used it of such children and, by extension, as a byname.^[9] Ecclesiastical Latin also kept the sense “last, hindmost”.^[10] The spelling posthumus, from an association with humō (“to bury”) in Late Latin, gave English posthumous.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it as a noun for a late-born child.^[2]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it as a noun for a child born after a will was made.^[3][2]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a child born after the father's death.^[7][8][2]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it for a last-born son.^[3][2]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it in the sense “last, final”.^[3][2]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian defines postumi as those born after the death of a parent.^[3][2]
• mid-15th century – English borrows posthumus as posthumous.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Last-born, born late in the parents' life.^[3][12]
2. (law) Born after the father's death, posthumous; as a noun, a posthumous child.^[3][7][1]
3. (law) Born after the making of a will.^[3]
4. Last, final.^[3][7][10]
5. Coming after death; surviving.^[8]

Word family

• postumo

Related words

• posterus
• postrēmō
• postrēmus
• post
• posterior
• English posthumous

Usage notes

As a personal name, Postumus was first a praenomen and later a cognomen;^[3] Ovid uses the vocative Postume for a man named Postumius.^[3] Bearers include M. Curtius Postumus, a friend of Cicero, C. Rabirius Postumus, whom Cicero defended, and the Ursidius Postumus addressed in Juvenal's sixth satire.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ Lewis, Charlton T. (1890), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: American Book Company