Etymologically
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tenus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈtɛ.nʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈtɛː.nus][1]

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

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