tametsi

Forms

tametsī ^[1] It is also written separately, tam etsī.^[2] The full form tamen etsī occurs in Plautus, Ennius and Pacuvius.^[3]

Etymology

The OLD derives it from tam (“so”) and etsī (“even if”).^[2] Lewis and Short take it as contracted from tamen (“yet”) and ⟨etsī⟩, which is often written in full, as ⟨tamenetsī⟩ in Plautus.^[3] Köbler names ⟨tam⟩, ⟨tamen⟩, et (“and, even”) and sī (“if”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Amphitruo: audīs quae dīcō, tametsī praesēns nōn adēs, “you hear what I say, even though you are not here”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It introduces a concessive clause, “even though, although”.^[2][1] Without a following main clause it is “and yet, all the same”, as Cicero asks: and yet, what examples are these?^[2] Church Latin glosses it “although, notwithstanding that, even if, and yet”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in the sense “even though”.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero in the sense “and yet”.^[2][4]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. Even though, although; even if.^[2][1][5]
2. (without a main clause) And yet, all the same, nevertheless.^[2][5]

Related words

• tamen
• etsī
• tam

References

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