transversus

Forms

trānsversus (feminine trānsversa, neuter trānsversum, adverb trānsversē or trānsversim); first/second-declension participle^[1] It is also spelled trānsvorsus and trāversus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin trāns- (“across”) + versus (“turned”), formed like adversus;^[2] versus is the participle of vertō (“to turn”).^[2][1] Synchronically it is the perfect passive participle of trānsvertō (“to turn across”).^[1][3] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Italic *trānsworssos, which also gave Umbrian trahuorfi (“transversely, crosswise”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first: in the Aulularia a man is told not to move a finger's breadth from his place, and in the Persa to go to the forum by the cross alleys.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It describes what lies or moves across a line rather than along it: crossways placed in a vineyard, a pig carrying its head sideways in Columella, side streets that cut across the direct way.^[2] The width of a finger laid across, digitus trānsversus, was a proverbial smallest measure.^[2] Ennius already uses it figuratively of a mind turned off its proper course.^[2] In law it describes collateral kinship, as in Gaius.^[2] Adverbial phrases are common: ex trānsversō, from the side and so unexpectedly, and in trānsversum, crosswise.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of side streets and of a finger's breadth.^[2][4]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius of a mind led astray.^[2][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses the phrase ex trānsversō, from the side.^[2][4]
• 140–180 AD – Gaius of collateral relatives.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Lying across, placed crosswise, transverse; pointing sideways.^[2][3][1]
2. Of roads, running across the direct way.^[2]
3. digitus trānsversus, the width of a finger, a minimal distance.^[2]
4. (law) Of kinship, collateral.^[2]
5. Moving across or sideways; figuratively, carried off one's proper course, thwarted.^[2][1]
6. ex trānsversō, from the side; unexpectedly. in trānsversum, crosswise.^[2][1]

Word family

• trānsversārius
• trānsversē
• trānsversum

Related words

• trānsversim

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes it from obliquus: transversum crosses a straight line at right angles, while obliquum meets it at unequal angles, slanting.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper