sive Latin · revision 17881

18 Oct 2026, 19:18 by bogdan “Latin la10k batch la75b-04”
Initial text

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=c. 450 BC, Twelve Tables}}
+ 
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈsiː.wɛ]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsiː.ve]^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Forms==
+ '''sīve''' or '''seu''' (conjunction)^(OLD 2012)
+ Old inscriptions spell it ''seive''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is formed [[af|la|sī|-ve]], “or if”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) The old spelling is ⟨seive⟩, with old ⟨sei⟩ “if”; ⟨seu⟩ arose by apocope, as [[neu]] from [[nēve]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ It is found in the Twelve Tables.^(Köbler 2010)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ ''Sīve'' introduces an alternative condition, “or if”, or with ''sīve … sīve'' two conditions, “if on the one hand … if on the other”, or “whether … or”.^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995) It also offers alternative suggestions, “either … or”, alternatives in indirect questions (“or whether”), and alternative names or descriptions.^(OLD 2012) It can correct a preceding word, “or rather, or perhaps”.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ In Medieval Latin it often means simply “or”, and even “and”.^(Niermeyer 1976)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 450 BC – Used in the Twelve Tables.^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 190–159 BC – Terence: ''postulō sīve aequomst tē ōrō'', “I ask you, or if that is fairer, I beg you”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil: ''errāvitne viā seu lassa resēdit, incertum'', “whether she lost her way or sat down tired, is uncertain”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ 
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Conjunction===
+ # [[m|en|or]] if.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)
+ # ''sīve … sīve'', if … or if;^(OLD 2012) [[m|en|whether]] … or.^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)
+ # Either … or.^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(in indirect questions)'' Or whether.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Or rather, or perhaps.^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Or;^(Niermeyer 1976) and.^(Niermeyer 1976)
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[sī]]
+ * [[-ve]]
+ * [[vel]]
+ * [[aut]]
+ * [[nēve]]
+ 
+ ==Usage notes==
+ ''Seu'' is rare in most republican authors except perhaps Caesar, but in the poets it is as common as ''sīve'', and the two forms are often combined in verse.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}