operose Latin · revision 34651

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''operōsē''' (comparative operōsius)^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is an adverb, [[der|la|operōsus|t=painstaking, laborious]], formed with [[m|la|-ē]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014) The adjective is made from [[m|la|opera|t=work, effort]],^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Köbler traces it to [[m|la|opus|t=work]],^(Köbler 2010) which goes back to [[itc-pro|*opes-]] and [[ine-pro|*h₃ep-os|t=work]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler and Gaffiot first record it in Cicero's ''Orator'',^(Köbler 2010)^(Gaffiot 2016) where it means laboriously, with difficulty.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means with (too) much care and effort, [[m|en|painstakingly]], [[m|en|laboriously]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Hirtius, in the preface to the eighth book of Caesar's Gallic War, says that nothing by other writers had been composed with such care.^(Conte 2010) Seneca speaks of doing nothing laboriously and uses the comparative of men's minds being more busily occupied,^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016) while Pliny the Elder uses the comparative for more precisely, of describing something more exactly.^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Conte 2010) In medieval British Latin it means with great care or effort, diligently: William of Malmesbury writes of a chain worked more elaborately, and Orderic Vitalis of a city carefully fortified.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in the ''Orator''.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of minds busily occupied.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses the comparative for “more precisely”.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1168 – John of Salisbury uses the comparative in a letter.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # With (too) much care and effort, [[m|en|painstakingly]], [[m|en|laboriously]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # With difficulty.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Conte 2010)

+ # ''(comparative)'' More precisely, more exactly.^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}