primo

Forms

prīmō (superlative, positive prae, comparative prius, adjective prīmus)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prīmus (“first”) + -ō, with the adverbial ending of the ablative.^[2][3] De Vaan traces prīmus to the Proto-Italic superlative *prī̆-isamo- (“first”), built on an adverb *pri “before”; its further ancestry is uncertain, perhaps Proto-Indo-European *pr(e)i (“before”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on: in the Amphitruo a character says “aedis primo ruere rebamur tuas” (“at first we thought your house was falling down”).^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is “at first, to begin with”, often strengthened as primo omnium “first of all”, which already occurs in Plautus.^[2][6] It opens a sequence answered by deinde, post, postea or mox, a use common in Cicero, Sallust, Caesar and Livy.^[3][5] It also means “for the first time” and, in lists, “firstly”.^[2] Varro once uses primo … quam for “before”,^[2] and Livy has cum primo “as soon as”.^[3]

Ecclesiastical Latin uses it in the phrase primo ictu oculi “at first glance”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 200 BC – Plautus uses it for “at first” and for “for the first time”.^[2][8]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses primo … quam in the sense “before”.^[2][8]
• 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy uses cum primo “as soon as”.^[3][8]

Meanings

Adverb

1. At first, originally, to begin with;^[2][7] primo omnium “first of all”.^[2][7]
2. For the first time;^[2][3] (in a sequence) firstly, followed by deinde, post or mox.^[2][3]
3. (with quam) before.^[2]
4. cum primo: as soon as.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ 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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de