privatim

Forms

prīvātim (not comparable)^[1] An inscription spells it preivatim.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from prīvātus (“private”) with the adverbial suffix -im;^[2] the TLL derives it from prīvō (“to deprive”), as sēparātim from ⟨sēparō⟩.^[3] These belong to prīvus (“separate, one's own”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *preiwo- (“separate, individual”) and Proto-Indo-European *prei-wo-, probably from the stem of prior with a shift from “in front” to “separate”.^[4] Cognate with Umbrian preve (“separately”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Plautus as its first author,^[5] who has “it would be kept much more safely here in private” in the Bacchides.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is in a private capacity, as opposed to pūblicē, as Cato's “how much more cautiously we act privately among ourselves” and Cicero's eloquence that harms men “both privately and publicly”, and also in a private place.^[2][6] Cato uses it of land held separately by individual peoples, and Vitruvius of individual ways.^[2] In Pliny the Elder it means peculiarly or specially, and also particularly or above all.^[2]

Church Latin used it in the Bible and councils.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of keeping something in private.^[2][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato of private conduct and separate holdings.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero opposed to pūblicē.^[6][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of “specially”.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Privately, in a private capacity; in private.^[2][1][6]
2. Separately, individually.^[2]
3. Peculiarly, specially; particularly.^[2]

Related words

• prīvātus
• prīvus
• pūblicē

References

1. ^ a b 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b 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 c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press