Etymologically
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violenter

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Forms

violenter (comparative violentius, superlative violentissimē)[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin violēns (“violent”) + -ter.[2][3] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of violō (“to violate”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *wijelo- (“chasing, violating”) and Proto-Indo-European *uiH-elo-, from a root Proto-Indo-European *uiH- (“to strive after, chase”); he adds that the Romans must have connected the verb with vīs (“force”).[4] Köbler connects it directly with that noun.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler find it first in Terence,[4][5] whose Phormio has someone hear that the young man's father is taking what has happened violently, that is, with strong feeling.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It means with force, violently: Sallust has an inquiry carried out harshly and violently, and Livy the solemn games violently broken up.[2][3] In Terence it refers to violent feelings.[2] Of natural forces it means with destructive force: Horace describes the yellow Tiber, its waves hurled back from the Etruscan shore, going to throw down the monuments of the king.[2][3] Stelten gives "violently, vehemently" for Church Latin.[6]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence of feelings.[2][5]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust of a harsh inquiry.[2][3]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of the flooding Tiber.[2]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of games broken up.[3]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. With force, violently; with violent feeling, vehemently.[2][3][1][6]
  2. (of natural forces) With destructive force, impetuously.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b 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 e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b 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
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson