semivivus

Pronunciation

• Classical: [seː.mɪˈwiː.wʊs]^[1]
• Ecclesiastical: [se.miˈviː.vus]^[1]

Forms

sēmivīvus (feminine sēmivīva, neuter sēmivīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sēmi- (“half”) + vīvus (“alive”).^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero's Verrines, of a freeborn man tortured with smoke and left half-alive.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It means more dead than alive, of people and bodies, in Cicero, Nepos, Curtius, Seneca and Apuleius;^[2] in Cicero's Pro Tullio the stress falls on the life that remains.^[2] Cicero also uses it figuratively of the faint, half-hearted voices of hired men.^[2][4] The Vulgate uses it at Luke 10:30.^[4]

In British Medieval Latin it kept its sense, and Aldhelm uses it as a noun.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a man left half-alive and of half-hearted voices.^[2][3]
• c. 100–24 BC – Nepos uses it too.^[2][3]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has it at Luke 10:30.^[4][3]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it as a noun.^[5][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Half-alive, half-dead, more dead than alive.^[2][4][6]
2. (figurative) Of the voice, faint, languid, half-hearted.^[2][4]

Related words

• vīvus

Usage notes

Lewis & Short give sēmianimis as a synonym.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson