totiens

Forms

totiēns (not comparable)^[1] It is also spelled totiēs.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin tot (“so many”) + -iēns.^[2][1][4] De Vaan traces tot to Proto-Italic *toti (“so many”) and Proto-Indo-European *to-ti, cognate with Sanskrit तति (táti, “so many”) and Ancient Greek τόσος (tósos, “so great”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[4] who has totiēns monēre mīrumst, “it's strange to have to warn you so often”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Totiēns is “that number of times, as often”, usually answering quotiēns (Cato on a farm: quotiēns ībis, totiēns magis placēbit, “the more often you go, the more it will please you”), and without a correlative “as many times” (Horace).^[2][3][1] It also means “so many times, so often” (Terence: an ego totiēns dē eādem rē audiam?, “must I hear about the same thing so often?”).^[2][1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: totiēns monēre mīrumst.^[2][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato: quotiēns ībis, totiēns magis placēbit.^[2][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence: an ego totiēns dē eādem rē audiam?.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (with quotiēns) As often (as), as many times.^[2][3][1]
2. So often, so many times.^[2][3][1]

Related words

• tot
• quotiēns
• totidem

References

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