successivus

Forms

successīvus (feminine successīva, neuter successīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin succēdō (“to follow, succeed”), formed on its past participle stem ⟨success-⟩ with the suffix -īvus.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates its first medieval use to 1125, after Latham's dictionary,^[4] meaning “following one after another”.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

In British medieval Latin it meant following one another, coming in stages, or gradual;^[2] of time, following or subsequent; and hereditary, passed on by succession, as in the phrase successīvō iūre “by right of inheritance”.^[2] Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for “following, successive”, with the adverb successīvē.^[5]

English successive (early 15th century) comes from Old French successif and directly from the Medieval Latin word,^[3] and Italian successivo from it as a Late Latin word.^[6]

Timeline

• 1125 – First medieval use recorded by Latham.^[4]
• 1286 – A British text speaks of cares that follow one another.^[2]
• 1355 – Used of times following one another.^[2]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as successive.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Medieval Latin) Following one another, successive; done in stages, gradual.^[2][5][4]
2. (Medieval Latin) Of time: following, subsequent.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) Hereditary, passed on by succession.^[2]

Related words

• successor
• successiō
• English successive

Usage notes

Wiktionary treats successīvus as an alternative form of succīsīvus.^[1] In Lactantius, Lewis & Short call successīvus a false reading for succīsīva,^[7] while Gaffiot keeps it in the sense “that follows”;^[8] Conte cites it from Tertullian as a conjecture.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.