Etymologically
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primum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpriː.mũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpriː.mum][1]

Forms

prīmum (not comparable)[1] As a noun: prīmum, genitive prīmī, neuter, second declension.[2] Plautus has the old spelling preimum.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin prīmus (“first”): the noun is its neuter used as a noun, and the adverb is the neuter accusative used adverbially.[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adverb is found in Naevius (c. 235–200 BC)[3] and Plautus, meaning “first”, at the head of a series of acts.[2]

Semantic evolution

Plautus also uses it for “first of all” (omnium prīmum), “above all” and “for the first time”, and in phrases such as ut prīmum and quam prīmum, “as soon as”, “as soon as possible”.[2] Cato pairs it with deinde in his directions on farming, and in Cicero, Sallust and Livy it also means “at the beginning, originally”.[2]

The neuter noun meant the first part or beginning of something, often in the phrases in prīmō and ā prīmō;[2] its plural meant the front line, first place, the first principles or elements of things, and the flower of a group, as in inter prīma, “among the best”.[2] In logic Cicero uses it for the first premiss of a syllogism.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses the adverb for “first, in the first place”.[2][3]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has omnium prīmum and quam prīmum.[2][3]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses prīmum … deinde in instructions.[2][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the noun for a premiss and in ad prīma illa, “to those first points”.[2][3]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. First, in the first place, as the first point or act; often followed by deinde.[2][4]
  2. omnium prīmum: first of all.[2]
  3. First in preference, above all.[2]
  4. For the first time.[2][1]
  5. ut prīmum, ubi prīmum, cum prīmum: as soon as;[2] quam prīmum: as soon as possible.[2]
  6. At the beginning, at first, originally.[2]

Noun

  1. The first part, beginning;[2] in prīmō, at the beginning, in front.[2]
  2. (plural) The front line or front parts.[2]
  3. (plural) First place, supremacy.[2]
  4. (plural) The first stages;[2] (philosophy) elements.[2]
  5. (logic) The major premiss of a syllogism.[2]
  6. The chief point;[2] in prīmō, especially.[2]
  7. (plural) The flower or best (of a group); in prīmīs, inter prīma, among the best.[2]

Word family

  • prīmumdum

Usage notes

In prīmīs is also written as one word, imprīmīs.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press