antequam Latin · revision 30660

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=la ante, la quam}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈan.tɛ.kʷãː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈan.te.kʷam]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''antequam''' (conjunction)^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also written separately, ''ante quam'', often with words between.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|ante|quam|t1=before|t2=than]].^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010) De Vaan traces [[m|la|ante]] to [[itc-pro|*anti]] and [[ine-pro|*h₂ent-i|t=in front]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cato has it with the indicative in a speech (''antequam is vīlicāre coepit'', “before he began to manage the estate”) and with the subjunctive in his work on farming: ''haec facitō antequam vīneam fodere incipiās'', “do this before you begin to dig the vineyard”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Antequam'' means “before”: with the indicative it states a simple order in time (Cicero: before Dolabella was condemned), with the subjunctive an action that is expected, anticipated or prevented.^(OLD 2012) It is also used without a finite verb (Livy: they would not lay down their power before the laws were passed), and in impossible comparisons means “sooner … than”: Virgil's ''ante levēs ergō pāscentur in aethere cervī … quam nostrō illīus lābātur pectore vultus'', “sooner will the light deer graze in the air than his face fade from my heart”.^(OLD 2012) It can also mean “until”.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “before, sooner than”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato: ''antequam vīneam fodere incipiās''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero: ''antequam Dolābella condemnātus est''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil: ''ante levēs … pāscentur in aethere cervī''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Conjunction===

+ # [[m|en|before|alt=Before]] (with indicative or subjunctive).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Sooner than (in impossible comparisons).^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Until.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ante]]

+ * [[quam]]

+ * [[priusquam]]

+ * [[postquam]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}