tantundem

Forms

tantundem n (indeclinable)^[1] It is the neuter of tantusdem, tantadem “just as great”; the genitive tantīdem means at the same price.^[2][3] It is also spelled tantumdem.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin tantus (“so great”) + -dem, with the suffix of īdem.^[2] Wiktionary explains the ⟨n⟩ as the ⟨m⟩ of tantum assimilated to the following ⟨d⟩.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,^[5] who uses it as an adjective, I'll try just as great a trick, and as a noun, you will get just as much.^[2]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it is just as great or as much, which is rare: Livy says nearly as many citizens and allies fell, and jurists use it of a sum of money.^[2][3] As a neuter noun, its common use, it is the same quantity, just as much: Cicero wants as much given to magistrates as always, Horace has as much drawn from a small store, and Livy gives the allies as much as the soldiers.^[2][3] Seneca contrasts repaying the same thing with repaying the same amount.^[2] The genitive tantīdem is at the same price or worth, as Ennius' dog barking without teeth, and tantundem est means it comes to the same thing: in Terence one asks whose a girl is and where she is from and gets the same answer.^[2] As an adverb it is to the same degree, just as much: Caesar has a rampart just as wide.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus as adjective and noun.^[2][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence of something coming to the same thing.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of equal allowances.^[2][3][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of a rampart just as wide.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Just as much, the same amount or quantity.^[2][3][1]
2. tantundem est: it comes to the same thing.^[2][1]

Adverb

1. To the same degree or extent, just as much.^[2][1]

Related words

• tantus
• tantum
• īdem

References

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