dimetior Latin · revision 33625

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *meh₁-ti-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [diːˈmeː.ti.ɔr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [diˈmɛt.t͡si.or]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''dīmētior''' (present infinitive dīmētīrī, perfect active dīmēnsus sum); fourth conjugation, deponent^(Wiktionary)

+ The form ''dēmētior'' is frequent in manuscripts and texts, and apparently more common in the sense “to measure out by weight”.^(OLD 2012)

+ The perfect participle ''dīmēnsus'' is often passive, “measured”.^(OLD 2012)

+ Late texts have a participle ''dīmētītus'' and a future ''dīmētībor''.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|dis-|mētior|t2=to measure]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) De Vaan traces [[m|la|mētior]] to [[itc-pro|*mēti-]] and [[ine-pro|*meh₁-ti-|t=measurement]].^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[grc|μῆτις|tr=mêtis|t=wisdom, skill]] and [[ang|mǣd|t=measure]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008) in whom someone asks for rationed food, ''petere dimensum cibum''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its main sense is to measure out a space, physically or in the mind:^(OLD 2012) Cicero speaks of the zeal for measuring the sky and the earth, Virgil of measuring out a field for a contest, and Quintilian of measuring the world.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero also uses it of counting and measuring syllables to form metrical patterns, and of periods of time, the revolutions of months and years measured out.^(OLD 2012) It also means to weigh out or measure by weight, as in Plautus' rations.^(OLD 2012) Döderlein notes that ''dīmētior'' and ''dīmētor'' mean especially the measuring and marking out of subdivisions.^(Döderlein 1874) In Church Latin it is to mete out or measure.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of rationed food.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, of measuring the sky and syllables.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil, of measuring out a field.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian, of measuring the world.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|measure]] out a space;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) to measure words or syllables in metre;^(OLD 2012) to measure periods of time.^(OLD 2012)

+ # To weigh out, measure by weight, [[m|en|mete]] out.^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[demensio]]

+ * [[dīmēnsiō]]

+ * [[indimensus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mētior]]

+ * [[mēnsūra]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}