singulariter

Forms

singulāriter (adverb)^[1] Lucretius has the syncopated spelling singlāriter.^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin singulāris (“single, unique”) + -ter,^[1] and that adjective is formed on singulus (“one at a time”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Lucretius, meaning “one by one, singly”,^[1] and in Cicero, meaning “exceptionally”.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

Cicero uses it of an exceptional degree of feeling, and Varro, as a grammatical term, of a word used in the singular number.^[1] In Late Latin it also meant individually or alone,^[3] and in Ecclesiastical Latin alone or with oneness of mind and purpose.^[4]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it for things taken one by one.^[1][2]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of exceptional affection.^[1][2]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a word in the singular.^[1][2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. One by one, separately, singly.^[1]
2. (grammar) In the singular number.^[1][3]
3. To an exceptional degree, singularly, remarkably.^[1][3]
4. (Late Latin) Individually, alone.^[3]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Alone; with oneness of mind or purpose.^[4]

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. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson