tantisper

Forms

tantīsper (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin tantus (“so great”) + -per (“through, for”),^[2] originally a phrase of the ablative plural ⟨tantīs⟩ with ⟨-per⟩ placed after it.^[1] De Vaan explains the suffix ⟨-per⟩, which marks duration or number of times, as per (“through”) used as a postposition, a use confirmed by the Sabellic languages;^[3] it also forms paulīsper, parumper and aliquantīsper.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the OLD find it first in Plautus,^[3][2] who has meretrīx tantisper blanditur, dum illud quod rapiat videt, “a courtesan flatters just as long as she sees something to grab”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

With dum or quoad it means for just so long as:^[2][4] Terence, Cato, Cicero, Livy, Fronto and Gellius use it so,^[2] and Ulpian has it with quoad.^[2] Alone it means for the meantime, for the present:^[2] Terence writes of letting a conger eel play in the water for a while,^[4] and Cicero, Livy, Ovid, Seneca, Gaius and Apuleius use it in the same way.^[2] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means meanwhile,^[5] and in Bede it is for so long a time, all the time.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it with dum and in the sense “for the present”.^[2][7]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it in both senses.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in his letters and the Tusculan Disputations.^[2][7]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it in the sense “for the time being”.^[2][7]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (with dum, quoad) For such a time (as), for just so long (as).^[2][8][4]
2. For the meantime, for the present; all the time, meanwhile.^[2][8][5]

Related words

• tantus
• paulīsper
• parumper
• aliquantīsper
• quantīsper

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press