Etymologically
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tantisper

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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]

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