propemodum

Forms

propemodum (not comparable)^[1] It is also written separately, prope modum.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin prope (“near”) + modus (“measure”), with the noun in the accusative, near the measure.^[3][4][5] De Vaan, after Dunkel, derives prope from an iterative preverb Proto-Indo-European *própro (“on and on, ever further”), with the second /r/ lost by dissimilation.^[6] Cognate with Ancient Greek πρόπρο (própro, “before; on and on”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,^[5] whose Menaechmi has “I almost know already what the matter is”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It means virtually, near enough or pretty well, nearly or almost.^[3][4] Cicero says that drawing lots is almost the same as playing at odds and evens or throwing dice, and speaks of almost counting the syllables.^[4] Church Latin glosses it almost, nearly, in like manner.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in the sense almost.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of lots compared with dice.^[4][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Virtually, near enough, almost, nearly.^[3][4][7][1]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson