tenus

Forms

tenus (postposition, + ablative, or + genitive plural)^[2][1]

Etymology

De Vaan takes it as a petrified form of the s-stem noun ⟨tenus⟩ “snare”, Proto-Italic *tenos- (“snare, stretch”), made from the root of teneō (“to hold”), Proto-Indo-European *ten-os- (“stretch”); he rejects Meiser's explanation from an active participle *tn-u̯os (“stretching to”).^[3] Wiktionary likewise describes it as an accusative of extent of that noun.^[1] The OLD compares tendō and a Sanskrit adverb.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates the preposition from Lucretius.^[3] It means right up to or as far as.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It always follows its noun, usually with the ablative singular and, in quotations, with the genitive plural.^[2] Its first sense is right up to, as Virgil's sword buried in a side up to the hilt, and with limiting force just as far as, as in Cicero's king who, defeated, was ordered to rule only as far as the Taurus.^[2][1] Livy uses it of a process carried up to a given stage, gladiatorial shows given sometimes only up to wounds.^[2] It also expresses the limit to which something applies, “to the extent of”, as the annalist Quadrigarius' “moved only in mind”.^[2] In Church Latin it also means lengthwise or along.^[4][1]

It forms adverbs and conjunctions such as hāctenus, quātenus and eātenus.^[1][2]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it as a preposition.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a king limited to the land as far as the Taurus.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of a sword buried up to the hilt.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a process carried up to a stage.^[2][5]

Meanings

Postposition

1. Right up to, as far as; just as far as.^[2][1][4]
2. Up to a given stage of a process.^[2][1]
3. To the extent of, within the limits of.^[2][1]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Lengthwise, along.^[4][1]

Word family

• prōtinus
• aliquātenus
• eātenus
• hāctenus
• illātenus
• illāctenus
• istāctenus
• itatenus
• mediatenus
• nūllātenus
• quātenus
• quādamtenus

Related words

• teneō
• tendō

Usage notes

A separate neuter noun tenus, tenoris, “snare, noose”, occurs in Plautus' Bacchides and is explained by Nonius as a snare named from stretching; the OLD compares Greek ténos.^[2][6][3]

References

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