Etymologically
Log in

sive

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 19:18. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈsiː.wɛ][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsiː.ve][1]

Forms

sīve or seu (conjunction)[2] Old inscriptions spell it seive.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin sī + -ve, “or if”.[2][3][1] The old spelling is ⟨seive⟩, with old ⟨sei⟩ “if”; ⟨seu⟩ arose by apocope, as neu from nēve.[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in the Twelve Tables.[4]

Semantic evolution

Sīve introduces an alternative condition, “or if”, or with sīve … sīve two conditions, “if on the one hand … if on the other”, or “whether … or”.[2][5] It also offers alternative suggestions, “either … or”, alternatives in indirect questions (“or whether”), and alternative names or descriptions.[2] It can correct a preceding word, “or rather, or perhaps”.[2][1]

In Medieval Latin it often means simply “or”, and even “and”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – Used in the Twelve Tables.[4]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence: postulō sīve aequomst tē ōrō, “I ask you, or if that is fairer, I beg you”.[2][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil: errāvitne viā seu lassa resēdit, incertum, “whether she lost her way or sat down tired, is uncertain”.[2][4]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. or if.[2][3][1]
  2. sīve … sīve, if … or if;[2] whether … or.[2][5]
  3. Either … or.[2]
  4. (in indirect questions) Or whether.[2]
  5. Or rather, or perhaps.[2]
  6. (Medieval Latin) Or;[6] and.[6]

Usage notes

Seu is rare in most republican authors except perhaps Caesar, but in the poets it is as common as sīve, and the two forms are often combined in verse.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill