Etymologically
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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈseː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsɛː][1]

Forms

sē or sēsē (genitive suī, dative sibi, accusative and ablative sē); reflexive pronoun[2] The oldest inscriptions write the accusative and ablative sēd and the dative sibei.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *sē, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *se (“oneself”).[3] The long vowel comes from the stressed accusative; the old final ⟨-d⟩ (⟨sēd⟩) is the ablative ending, perhaps inherited, used also for the accusative.[3] The genitive ⟨suī⟩ continues the genitive of the possessive suus.[3] According to de Vaan the PIE accusative took the /u/ of the possessive, giving *swe in stressed position.[3]

Cognate with Oscan siom and Umbrian seso, Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐌺 (sik) and Old Church Slavonic сѧ (sę).[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in the Twelve Tables and in Livius Andronicus, who writes ipsus sē in terram … fligit “he dashes himself to the ground”.[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

Sē refers back to the subject of its clause (“himself, herself, itself, themselves”) and, in reported speech and other dependent clauses, to the subject of the main verb.[2][5] Per sē means “by one's own efforts” or “in itself”, and quid hoc sibi vult? “what does this mean?”.[2]

Its old ablative sēd, sē “by oneself, apart” became a preposition “without” in early laws (sē fraude “without penalty”, Twelve Tables), the prefix sē- “apart” (sēcēdō, sēcūrus), and the conjunction sed.[3][2]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use both the pronoun and sē fraude “without penalty”.[2][3][4]
  • c. 280–200 BC – Livius Andronicus: ipsus sē in terram … fligit.[2][4]
  • 2nd century AD – Festus, in Paul the Deacon's epitome, records that the ancients used sē for sine.[2][4]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. himself, herself, itself, themselves (referring to the subject).[2][5]
  2. Him, her, them (referring to the subject of the main verb in reported speech).[2]
  3. Oneself (with an indefinite subject).[2]
  4. per sē, by oneself, unaided; in itself.[2]

Preposition

  1. (Old Latin, with ablative) without: sē fraude, without penalty.[2][3][1]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c 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 g h i j de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  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