modus Latin · revision 2759

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 235–200 BC, Naevius|origins=ine-pro *med-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈmɔ.dʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmɔː.dus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''modus''' ''m'' (genitive modī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*medo-|t=measure, judgement]], [[inh|ine-pro|*med-o-|t=measure]], from the root [[ine-pro|*med-|t=to measure, take appropriate measures]] that also gives [[meditor]] and [[medeor]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012)^(Etymonline) Following Schrijver, de Vaan takes the ''o'' as a phonetic development of *medo-, which then spread through the s-stem *medos- from which [[modestus]] and [[moderor|alt=moderārī]] are derived; the older reconstruction *mod-o- is contradicted by [[osc|meddíss|t=magistrate]], “law-speaker”, from *med(V)-dik-.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[xum|meřs|t=law]] and with [[grc|μήδομαι|tr=mḗdomai|t=to plan]], [[grc|μήδεα|tr=mḗdea|t=counsels]] and [[hy|միտ|tr=mit|t=thought]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Naevius onwards.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) Plautus uses it of the [[m|en|measure]] of a field a father left his son and in the question ''quid modi?'', “what limit?”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From a measured amount, especially of land, and a unit of measurement (Varro's ''acnua''), it came to mean size or extent, then the due measure (''modum tenere'', to observe moderation), a limit or end (''modum facere'', to set bounds), and moderation itself, ''sine modo'' being “without restraint”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ In music and verse it was the measure or rhythm, a note, and in the plural a melody or poems.^(OLD 2012) It also meant a way or method of doing something, in countless adverbial phrases: ''quo modo'' “how”, ''nullo modo'' “not at all”, ''eius modi'' “of that kind”, ''in modum'', ''ad modum''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Rhetoricians used it to translate Greek ''tropos'', grammarians for the voice of a verb and, in Late Latin, for the [[m|en|mood]].^(OLD 2012)^(Etymonline)

+

+ Medieval texts use it for the wording of a text, a sign and a reason, and in ''post modum'' “afterwards”.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010) It survives as Italian, Spanish and Portuguese ''modo'' and Romanian ''mod'', and as French ''mode'', from which German ''Mode'' and the fashion sense derive;^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) English [[m|en|mode]] appears in the late 14th century for melodies, and the grammatical mood in the mid-15th.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a measure of land, of a limit and of moderation.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius has ''sine modo'', without restraint, and ''Bacchico modo'', in Bacchic fashion.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a unit of land measurement.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of rhythm in speech and music and of a method.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of the voice of a verb.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * late 14th century – [[en|mode|alt=Mode]] is borrowed into English.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A measured amount, a quantity; a unit of [[m|en|measure|alt=measurement]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Size, extent, as in ''pro modo'', in proportion.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Due measure; a limit, a bound, an end.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Moderation, restraint.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(music, verse)'' A [[m|en|rhythm]], a measure, a metre, or a note, and in the plural a melody or poems.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A manner, a way, a method, as in the adverbial phrases ''quo modo'', how, and ''eius modi'', of that kind.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(grammar)'' A voice of a verb, and in Late Latin a [[m|en|mood]].^(OLD 2012)^(Etymonline)

+ # A kind, a form.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The wording of a text; a sign; a reason.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[admodum]]

+ * [[commodus]]

+ * [[modestus]]

+ * [[modicus]]

+ * [[modificus]]

+ * [[modimperātor]]

+ * [[modō̆]]

+ * [[modulus]]

+ * [[praemodum]]

+ * [[cuicuimodi]]

+ * [[cuimodi]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[medeor]]

+ * [[meditor]]

+ * [[en|mode]]

+ * [[en|model]]

+ * [[en|modern]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein takes ''modus'' in its moral sense as the objective “nothing too much”, while [[modestia]] is the feeling that prefers it and [[moderatio|alt=moderātiō]] the habit of acting on it.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}