suaviter Latin · revision 33460

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la suāvis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈsʷaː.wɪ.tɛr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈsʷaː.vi.ter]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''suāviter''' (comparative suāvius, superlative suāvissimē)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|suāvis|-ter|t1=sweet, pleasant]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan explains [[m|la|suāvis]] as an old u-stem adjective, [[itc-pro|*swādu-]], from [[ine-pro|*sueh₂d-u-|t=sweet]], which was remade as an i-stem like all other adjectives of that type; the ⟨d⟩ was then lost before ⟨w⟩.^(de Vaan 2008) The adjective is cognate with [[grc|ἡδύς|tr=hēdús|t=sweet, pleasant]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its earliest quotation in the OLD is from Plautus, of music: ''age, iam infla buccas, nunciam aliquid suaviter'', “come now, puff out your cheeks, now something sweetly”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its first sense is pleasing to the senses, sweetly, as of sound or smell, in Plautus, Lucretius, Seneca and both Plinys.^(OLD 2012) From Cicero on it more often means pleasing to the mind, charmingly or agreeably:^(OLD 2012) Cicero writes that it is no use knowing what to say unless one can say it fluently and ''suāviter'',^(OLD 2012) and Horace uses it too.^(OLD 2012) In colloquial Latin ''suāviter est'' means “one is having a good time”, as in Petronius.^(OLD 2012) In Ecclesiastical Latin it keeps the senses sweetly, agreeably and delightfully.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of music.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of things pleasing to the senses.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of agreeable speech and in his letters.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it in his Satires and Epistles.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * before 66 AD – Petronius has the colloquial ''suāviter fuit''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # So as to please the senses, [[m|en|sweetly]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|charmingly|alt=Charmingly]], [[m|en|agreeably]], pleasantly; also, more loosely, nicely.^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''suāviter est'' (usually with a dative): one is having a good time.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[suāvis]]

+ * [[suāvitās]]

+ * [[suādeō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}