subditivus

Forms

subditīvus (feminine subditīva, neuter subditīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin subdō (“to put under; to substitute”) + -īvus.^[2][1][3] De Vaan lists the compounds in ⟨-dō⟩ “to put” as possibly going back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus is its first author.^[4][5] In the Amphitruo it is used of a counterfeit Amphitryon and a counterfeit Sosia.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In classical Latin it meant “fraudulently substituted, spurious”: Cicero has a fake pirate chief in the Verrines,^[2][6] and Suetonius, in the Life of Nero, tells of an attempt to denounce a brother to his father as a supposititious child.^[2][3] Subditivus was also the title of a comedy by Caecilius.^[2][7]

The metrician Terentianus Maurus uses it in a technical sense, of a foot allowed as a substitute for another: the trochee admits the tribrach in its place.^[2][8] Arnobius uses it of secret, hidden things.^[3][7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a counterfeit Amphitryon.^[2][6][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of a counterfeit pirate chief.^[2][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of a supposititious child.^[2][5]
• c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius cites Caecilius' comedy Subditivus.^[2][5]
• 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it of hidden things.^[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Fraudulently substituted, spurious, counterfeit; of a child, supposititious.^[2][6]
2. (metre) Allowed as a substitute.^[2][8]
3. (Late Latin) Hidden, secret.^[3][7]

Related words

• subditus

Usage notes

As a noun, Subditivus is the title of a comedy by Caecilius, quoted by Gellius.^[2][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier