Etymologically
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saltem

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈsaɫ.tẽː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsal.tem][1]

Forms

saltem (not comparable)[1] The spelling saltim appears from Ovid on.[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[2][3] Walde and Hofmann take it from a phrase “if otherwise” with sī (“if”) and an old adverb related to aliter (“otherwise”), and Köbler follows this, comparing item (“likewise”); de Vaan finds the loss of the vowel and the sense hard to explain.[2][4] He suggests instead an old accusative of a noun “leap” from saliō (“to jump”), used as an adverb “by leaps”, then “certainly, at least”.[2] Lewis and Short and Wiktionary connect it with salvus (“safe”) and salūs (“safety”), properly “saved, reserved”.[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Plautus as its first author.[2] In the Mercator someone is told at saltem hominis faciem exquīrerēs, “you might at least have asked what the man looked like”.[3]

Semantic evolution

It narrows a claim to something smaller or more feasible, “at least, at all events”, and stands in the main clause of conditions, as Plautus' Sosia asks who he is at least, if not Sosia.[3] In negative clauses it means “even, so much as”, as Terence's master complains that he was not even shown respect.[3] Lewis and Short explain it as marking what still holds good when the rest falls away.[5]

Church Latin has it as “at least”, and nē saltem, neque saltem or nōn saltem as “not even”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in the sense “at least”.[2][3][4]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence in the sense “even”.[3][4]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid with the spelling saltim.[3][4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. At least, at all events, anyhow.[3][1][6]
  2. (in negative clauses) Even, so much as;[3][6] nē saltem, not even.[3][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson