Etymologically
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sequens

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Forms

sequēns (genitive sequentis); third-declension one-termination adjective, present participle of sequor[1][2]

Etymology

It is the present participle of sequor (“to follow”), used as an adjective.[1][2] De Vaan traces ⟨sequor⟩ to Proto-Italic *sekw-e/o- (“to follow”) and Proto-Indo-European *sekw-e/o- (“to follow, accompany”), cognate with Sanskrit सचते (sácate, “to follow”), Ancient Greek ἕπομαι (hépomai, “to follow”) and Lithuanian sèkti (“to follow”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Plautus.[4] The OLD's earliest example of the adjective is Nepos, of a man killed by barbarians at a later time.[1]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it means “following, next” in time or order, and in the neuter plural what follows;[1] Pliny the Elder uses it for the second Africanus.[1] It also means “following as a consequence”: Cicero's method of reasoning adds what follows from a definition.[1] Quintilian reports that some called an epithet sequēns, an adjective that follows its noun.[1]

In Medieval Latin it was also “second-rate”, of goods of second quality.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.[4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of logical consequences.[1][4]
  • c. 100–24 BC – Nepos of a later time.[1][4]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of the epithet.[1][4]
  • Medieval Latin – “second-rate”.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Following, next in time or order; second.[1][2]
  2. Following as a consequence.[1]
  3. (grammar) An epithet, adjective.[1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Second-rate.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill