vixdum

Forms

vixdum (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin vix (“hardly”) + -dum.^[2][1] De Vaan traces vix to Proto-Italic *wiks and connects it, following Walde and Hofmann, with Proto-Indo-European *uik- (“a turn, bend”), but the derivation is uncertain.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is Terence's Phormio: vixdum dimidium dixeram, intellexerat, “I had scarcely said half, he had understood”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It means scarcely yet, only just:^[2] Cicero writes of Dolabella being blamed for succeeding someone who had scarcely been thirty days in Syria, and of learning everything before the meeting had scarcely broken up, and Livy calls Hannibal scarcely grown up.^[4] It is often followed by a clause with cum, scarcely had something happened when..., as in Cicero's vixdum epistulam tuam legeram, cum..., and in Livy, Petronius and Tacitus;^[2] it can also be followed by a clause with et or without a conjunction.^[2] In medieval glosses it is translated “still, yet”.^[5]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence, of being understood before one had said half.^[2][4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, in letters and speeches.^[2][4][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of Hannibal scarcely grown up.^[4][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Scarcely yet, only just, hardly.^[2][4][1]
2. With cum or et: scarcely (had something happened) when.^[2]
3. Almost.^[1]

Related words

• vix
• dum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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 e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de