rite

Forms

rīte (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It seems to be an old ablative beside rītus (“rite”), as Lewis and Short compare ⟨diū⟩ beside ⟨diē⟩;^[2][3] Wiktionary takes it from a lost third-declension noun ⟨*rītis⟩.^[1] De Vaan reports that its final vowel is always short, which points to a stem ⟨*rīti-⟩, and derives ⟨rītus⟩ from Proto-Italic *reitu- (“rite”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂r-(e)i- (“to count, observe carefully”).^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἀριθμός (arithmós, “number”) and Old Irish rím (“number”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Ennius as its first author;^[5] the OLD quotes Plautus, who says a son has been brought up properly for his father.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is with the correct religious procedure, as Cicero's games that were not properly performed, and of the gods with a favourable answer, as Aeneas' prayer to the Nymphs in Virgil.^[2][3][1] Outside religion it is with all due formality, as Quintilian's tribune “not duly elected”, and more widely properly, duly or correctly, as in Plautus and Lucretius.^[2][3] It is also rightly or fittingly, as in an unknown tragedy.^[2] Statius once uses it as a noun, “rite”.^[2][3]

Church Latin glosses it “rightly, fitly, properly, with suitable ceremony”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a son properly raised.^[2][5]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius.^[5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of games improperly held.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of prayer duly answered.^[2][5]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it as a noun.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. With due rites, with the proper ceremonies.^[2][3][1][6]
2. With all due formality.^[2]
3. Properly, duly, correctly.^[2][3][1][6]
4. Rightly, fittingly.^[2][6]
5. (as a noun) Rite, ceremony.^[2]

Related words

• rītus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson