sicine

Forms

sīcine (not comparable)^[1] Also written siccine^[2][3][4] and shortened sīcin.^[5][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin sīc (“thus”) + -ne (“interrogative particle”),^[1][6][4] the first part in its older form ⟨sīce⟩, which still has the particle -ce.^[6][3] De Vaan lists it with the words containing that particle, which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ḱe (“this, here”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,^[8] in indignant questions: sicine hoc fit? foras aedibus me eici?, “is this how it is done? am I to be thrown out of the house?”^[5]

Semantic evolution

It almost always implies reproach, sometimes self-reproach, and always begins its sentence.^[6] It is frequent in the comic writers, occurs once in Cicero and twice in Livy, and is not used by Caesar or Sallust.^[6] Terence asks sicine agis?, “is that what you are doing?”, Catullus sicine me … deserto liquisti in litore?, “is it thus you have left me on a deserted shore?”, and Propertius sicine, lente, iaces?, “do you lie there like that, sluggard?”^[5][6][2] It also introduces exclamations with an infinitive, as in Terence, “that she and I should be troubled so, poor wretches, by your doing!”^[6][9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in indignant questions.^[5][8]
• 190–159 BC – Terence has sicine agis?.^[6][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it once, in the Pro Flacco.^[5][6][8]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it in a reproachful question.^[5][8]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it twice.^[5][6][8]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (in indignant or reproachful questions) Thus? Is it so that…? Is this how…?^[5][6][10]
2. (with an exclamatory infinitive) To think that… thus!^[6][9]

Related words

• sīc
• -ne
• -ce

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T. (1890), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: American Book Company
10. ^ Simpson, D. P. (1959), Cassell's New Latin Dictionary, London: Cassell