Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Latin word subinde

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
c. 50 BC, Caelius
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin subinde
French souvent

Forms

subinde (not comparable)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from sub (“under; just after”) and inde (“from there; then”).[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Caelius, about 50 BC.[3] Lewis and Short find it only from the Augustan period on, and the OLD's first example is Horace's Epistles: first be glad, then (subinde) remember to whisper this advice into his ear.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is immediately or shortly afterwards, thereupon, and Curtius uses it of “from then on”.[2] Horace already has it in the sense “now and again, repeatedly”, which became common, and Pliny the Younger uses it of things placed at intervals.[2][1] Church Latin glosses it “immediately”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 50 BC – Caelius.[3]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace in the senses “then” and “repeatedly”.[2][3]
  • 1st century AD – Curtius in the sense “from then on”.[2]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Immediately afterwards, thereupon, forthwith; from then on.[2][1][5]
  2. Now and again, repeatedly, constantly; at intervals.[2][1]

References

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

Descendants

Cite this entry

“Subinde.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/subinde. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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