optimas Latin · revision 33007

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=86/82 BC, Rhetorica ad Herennium}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɔp.tɪ.maːs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈɔp.ti.mas]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''optimās''' ''m'' (genitive optimātis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also spelled ''optumās''; the genitive plural is usually ''optimātium''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|optimus|-ās|t1=best]], formed like [[summas|alt=summās]] and [[primas|alt=prīmās]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from the ''Rhetorica ad Herennium''.^(Köbler 2010) Cicero describes a constitution mixed from the royal, the aristocratic and the popular kinds.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As an adjective it means of the best or noblest in a state, aristocratic.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In the plural, ''optimātēs'' are the best class of citizens, the nobility, who claim to uphold what is best in the state, and in Roman politics of the later Republic the senatorial party: Cicero writes of a tribune who brought a land law against the will of the senate and of all the ''optimātēs'', and of the aristocratic path after Catulus' death.^(OLD 2012) Symmachus transfers it to a philosopher, a noble of wisdom.^(TLL) In Medieval Latin the ''optimātēs'' are the king's great men and dignitaries of the palace, and especially the lay magnates who were companions of the Merovingian king.^(Niermeyer 1976) Church Latin glosses it chief, aristocrat.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 86/82 BC – The ''Rhetorica ad Herennium''.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of the senatorial party.^(OLD 2012)

+ * c. 340–402 AD – Symmachus of a philosopher.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(chiefly plural)'' An [[m|en|aristocrat]]; the nobility; the senatorial party, the ''Optimates''.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin, plural)'' The king's great men, palace dignitaries; the lay magnates.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of the best or noblest, [[m|en|aristocratic]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[optimus]]

+ * [[nobilis|alt=nōbilis]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}