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utroque

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Forms

utrōque (adverb, not comparable)[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin uterque (“each of two, both”), formed with the adverbial suffix -ō.[1][3] Köbler refers it to utrō.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is the comic poet Caecilius Statius,[4] and Georges also cites Plautus for the phrase utrōque versum, “in both directions”.[5] Cicero writes to Atticus utrōque citius quam vellēmus cursum cōnfēcimus, “we finished the voyage both ways sooner than we wished”.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

In Classical prose and poetry it is an adverb of direction, “to both sides, to both places”: Livy has armies led in both directions and colonies sent to both towns, Virgil a head tossed from side to side, and Ovid a person who runs here and there.[5][6] The OLD separates the use for embassies sent to both sides in a conflict.[1]

It was also used figuratively, “in both directions, in either respect”: Livy says that the historians pull both ways (auctōrēs utrōque trahunt) when his sources disagree, and Varro and Cicero also use it in this figurative sense.[5][2][6] Aulus Gellius speaks of words said utrōque versum, in two senses.[5][7]

Timeline

  • 230/220–168 BC – Caecilius Statius uses it.[4]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has the phrase utrōque versum.[5][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero writes of a journey to two places.[5][2][4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of armies and colonies sent both ways and of sources that disagree.[5][6][4]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of running here and there.[6][4]
  • c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius uses utrōque versum of a double meaning.[5][7][4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. In both directions, to both places, to both sides.[1][5][2]
  2. To both sides in a conflict (of envoys, appeals, etc.).[1]
  3. (figurative) In both directions, in either respect;[5][2][6] auctōrēs utrōque trahunt, the sources pull both ways.[5][2][6]
  4. utrōque versum: in both directions; in a double sense.[5][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c Dvoretsky, I. Kh. (1976), Latinsko-russkij slovarʹ [Latin–Russian Dictionary], 2nd ed., Moscow: Russkij jazyk