raptim

Forms

raptim (adverb, not comparable)^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from rapiō (“to snatch, seize”), or from its participle ⟨raptus⟩, with the adverbial ending -im.^[1][3][4] De Vaan traces ⟨rapiō⟩ to Proto-Italic *rap-i- (“to seize”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁rp-i- (“to seize”), cognate with Ancient Greek ἐρέπτομαι (eréptomai, “to devour”) and Albanian rjep (“to tear off, rob”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Plautus;^[6] de Vaan dates it from Lucretius.^[5] The Atellan farce writer Novius has people playing ball in a rush.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It means “hurriedly, hastily, in a rush”, of things done in haste.^[1][2] Lewis and Short also give the rare sense “greedily, violently”, as in Pliny the Elder's seed greedily devoured by hungry birds.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^[6]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius.^[5][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of greedy birds.^[3][6]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Hurriedly, hastily, in a rush.^[1][2]
2. Greedily, violently.^[3]

Related words

• rapiō

References

1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de