Etymologically
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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈtrãːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈtrans][1]

Forms

trāns (+ accusative)[1] As a prefix it is often trā- before voiced consonants, as in trādō and trāiciō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *trānts, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *tr̥h₂-n̥ts (“crossing”), the present participle of *terh₂- (“to cross, go through”).[3][1] De Vaan notes that Umbrian trahaf (“on the other side of”) points to a Proto-Italic ending ⟨*-ns⟩; the OLD compares Sanskrit तिरः (tiráḥ, “across”) and Welsh tra (“over”), and mentions the view that it was the participle of a verb seen in intrō (“to enter”).[3][2] It is cognate with English through.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Plautus as its first author.[4] In the Mercator a father plans to have a girl carried across the sea to be sold (trāns mare … vēnum asportet).[2]

Semantic evolution

With verbs of motion it is “across, over, to the other side of”, and without motion “on the other side of, beyond”, as in laws for those “who will be across the sea”.[2][5] Statius uses it of a temporal or moral limit, as a tyrant who gave laws beyond the term of his reign, and Vitruvius has it as an adverb.[2] As a prefix it gives verbs and nouns of crossing and transfer.[2][6]

Church Latin glosses it “across, over”.[7] Through words borrowed from Latin, English gained the prefix trans-.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of carrying across the sea.[2][4]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius as an adverb.[2][4]
  • c. 45–96 AD – Statius of a limit in time.[2][4]

Meanings

Preposition

  1. (with accusative) Across, over, through, to the other side of.[2][1][5]
  2. (with accusative) On the other side of, beyond.[2][1]
  3. (figurative) Beyond (a limit of time or law).[2]

Adverb

  1. On the other side.[2]

Word family

Usage notes

Döderlein explains trāns and uls, opposed to cis, as plain designations of place, “on the other side”.[8]

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 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper