severe

Forms

sevērē (comparative sevērius, superlative sevērissimē)^[1]

Etymology

It is the adverb of sevērus (“stern, serious”), formed with -ē.^[1] De Vaan favours Nussbaum's derivation of ⟨sevērus⟩ from Proto-Italic *seχwēro- (“steadfast”) and Proto-Indo-European *seǵʰ-ur- (“holding”), comparing Sanskrit सहुरि (sáhuri-, “victorious, strong”) and Ancient Greek ἐχυρός (ekhurós, “strong, secure”); he rejects the older explanation from ⟨*swe-⟩ “apart” and ⟨*wēro-⟩ “friendly”, as the meanings do not fit.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero,^[3] who has Pericles speaking very sternly against the Athenians' wishes for the safety of his country.^[1]

Semantic evolution

It means “sternly, rigorously”, and of one's own conduct “austerely, soberly”: Cicero praises a man who lived seriously with the serious and pleasantly with the cheerful.^[1] It is also “seriously, in earnest”, as opposed to jokingly, and “with a grave manner”: Cicero's urbane irony is joking with a straight face through a whole speech.^[1] Quintilian uses it of a plain, austere style of speaking.^[1]

Church Latin glosses it “seriously, gravely, severely, austerely”.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of stern speaking and of earnestness.^[1][3]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of an austere style.^[1][3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Sternly, rigorously, severely.^[1][4]
2. Austerely, soberly, with strict discipline.^[1][4]
3. Seriously, in earnest; gravely, solemnly.^[1][4]
4. In a plain, austere style.^[1]

Related words

• sevērus

Usage notes

Döderlein notes that sevērus is said actively of one who makes no jokes and sērius of what is no matter for joking; the adverb sevērē means “earnestly” and sēriō “in earnest”.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
5. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper