severe Latin · revision 31825

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=la sevērus}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sevērē''' (comparative sevērius, superlative sevērissimē)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the adverb of [[sevērus|t=stern, serious]], formed with [[m|la|-ē]].^(OLD 2012) De Vaan favours Nussbaum's derivation of ⟨sevērus⟩ from [[itc-pro|*seχwēro-|t=steadfast]] and [[ine-pro|*seǵʰ-|alt=*seǵʰ-ur-|t=holding]], comparing [[sa|सहुरि|tr=sáhuri-|t=victorious, strong]] and [[grc|ἐχυρός|tr=ekhurós|t=strong, secure]]; he rejects the older explanation from ⟨*swe-⟩ “apart” and ⟨*wēro-⟩ “friendly”, as the meanings do not fit.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler's first source is Cicero,^(Köbler 2010) who has Pericles speaking very sternly against the Athenians' wishes for the safety of his country.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means “sternly, rigorously”, and of one's own conduct “austerely, soberly”: Cicero praises a man who lived seriously with the serious and pleasantly with the cheerful.^(OLD 2012) It is also “seriously, in earnest”, as opposed to jokingly, and “with a grave manner”: Cicero's urbane irony is joking with a straight face through a whole speech.^(OLD 2012) Quintilian uses it of a plain, austere style of speaking.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “seriously, gravely, severely, austerely”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of stern speaking and of earnestness.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of an austere style.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # [[m|en|sternly|alt=Sternly]], [[m|en|rigorously]], severely.^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # [[m|en|austerely|alt=Austerely]], soberly, with strict discipline.^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Seriously, in [[m|en|earnest]]; gravely, solemnly.^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # In a plain, austere style.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sevērus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein notes that ''sevērus'' is said actively of one who makes no jokes and ''sērius'' of what is no matter for joking; the adverb ''sevērē'' means “earnestly” and ''sēriō'' “in earnest”.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}