statim

Forms

statim (not comparable)^[1] Late poets (Avienus, Alcimus) scan the first a long.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from stō “to stand” with the adverbial suffix -tim (the OLD analyses it as ⟨stā-⟩ + ⟨-im⟩), so first “standing firm”.^[3][2][1][4] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of stō, whose stative present he traces to Proto-Indo-European *sth₂-eh₁-ye- (“to stand”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius speaks of men who fought the Greeks statim, “standing their ground”, and Plautus of a soldier who does not give way quīn statim rem gerat, “but fights on unyieldingly”.^[3][2] De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, “firmly, unyieldingly”, is only pre-classical.^[2][3] From “on the spot” came the usual sense “immediately, at once, without delay”, already in Cato, and statim ut “the moment that”.^[3][2] Later prose also uses it for “right from the start” (of things born so), for what lies immediately next in space, and for an automatic consequence, “necessarily” (nōn statim, “not necessarily”).^[3]

In Church Latin it is “immediately, at once”, and statim ac “as soon as”.^[6] Döderlein groups it with repente and subitō among words for suddenness.^[7]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius: quī rem cum Achīvīs gessērunt statim.^[3][4]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: nec recēdit locō quīn statim rem gerat.^[3][4]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for “at once”, of eating an offering on the spot after the rite.^[3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: statim ut Rōmam rediit, “as soon as he returned to Rome”.^[3][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (pre-classical) Firmly, steadily, unyieldingly.^[3][2][1]
2. immediately, at once, without delay.^[3][2][1][6]
3. Right from the start.^[3]
4. statim ut, statim ac, the moment that, as soon as.^[3][6]
5. Immediately next (in space).^[3]
6. As an immediate consequence, necessarily.^[3]

Related words

• stō
• statiō
• status

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper