viritim

Forms

virītim (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from vir (“man”) with the adverbial suffix -tim.^[2][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of vir, which he traces to Proto-Italic *wiro- and Proto-Indo-European *wiH-ró- (“man, young man, warrior”), comparing Umbrian uiro (“company of men”), Sanskrit वीर (vīrá-, “man, hero”) and Lithuanian výras (“man, husband”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[3] who says in the Pseudolus that a disgraceful deed could have been shared out to the whole people man by man.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is said of what reaches each person singly, man by man, and of the share each receives: Festus quotes Cato on booty divided this way, and Lucretius speaks of the smaller amount of land given to each man in earlier times.^[4][2] It also means as individuals rather than as a body, as in Varro on magistrates who have no power to summon individuals.^[2] Lewis & Short note that it is used with distributive numerals, never with cardinals.^[4] In Medieval Latin, taken as “manfully”, it meant vehemently or courageously.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of sharing out man by man.^[2][6]
• 234–149 BC – Cato of booty divided among the men.^[4][6]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of land per man.^[2][6]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Man by man, to each separately; per man.^[2][4][7][1]
2. As individuals, individually.^[2][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) Vehemently; courageously.^[5]

Related words

• vir

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson