Etymologically
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subtus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈsʊp.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsub.tus][1]

Forms

subtus (not comparable)[1] Also spelled suptus.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin sub (“under”) with the ending of intus (“within”),[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and Lewis & Short record it in Plautus,[5][3] and de Vaan dates it from Cato;[4] it meant “below, underneath”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It was mostly an early Latin word, found in Cato, Varro and Livy but not in Cicero or Caesar.[3] Livy tells how the Romans attacked with siege works above ground, while subtus Macedones cuniculis oppugnabant “the Macedonians attacked from below with tunnels”.[3] Vitruvius already uses it as a preposition with the accusative,[2][6] and this use spread in Late Latin, in the Vulgate and the grammarians,[7][6] and in medieval Latin, meaning “beneath, under”.[8] It is the source of Italian sotto,[6][1] Romanian subt and Friulian sot.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[5][3]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it in On Agriculture.[4][6][5]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it as a preposition.[2][6][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy writes of the Macedonians attacking from below with mines.[3][5]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Below, underneath, beneath.[2][3][9]

Preposition

  1. (with accusative) Under, beneath, lower than.[2][7][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson