altum Latin · revision 30648

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=280/260–before 200 BC, Livius Andronicus|origins=la alō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈaɫ.tũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈal.tum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''altum''' ''n'' (genitive altī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the neuter of [[m|la|altus|t=high, deep]] used as a noun.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis & Short treat [[m|la|altus]] as the participle of [[m|la|alō|t=to nourish]].^(Lewis & Short 1879) The rare adverb meaning “deeply” is its accusative.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Livius Andronicus has it for the open sea: ''iam in altum expulsā lintre'', “the boat already driven out to sea”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Altum'' is first the deep, the open sea (Naevius), and a high place, the height of the sky (Ennius: ''ex altō in altum dēspexit mare'', “looked down from on high into the deep sea”).^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) It is also the depths of the earth or of an object, a region hidden from knowledge (Sallust), and a remote point of time or source: ''ex altō repetere'', to go far back (Fronto: “why such a far-fetched preface?”).^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “the deep”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus: ''in altum expulsā lintre''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius: ''ex altō in altum dēspexit mare''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the depths of a stone.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|deep]], the open sea.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # A height, the height of heaven.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The depths, the interior.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Obscurity; a remote time or source: ''ex altō repetere'', to go far back.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # ''(rare)'' Deeply.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[altus]]

+ * [[altē]]

+ * [[alō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}