gradatim Latin · revision 35817

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=la gradior}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɡraˈdaː.tĩː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ɡraˈdaː.tim]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''gradātim''' (not comparable)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|gradus|-ātim|t1=step]], an adverb of manner.^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) De Vaan lists it among the words built on the stem ⟨grad-⟩ of [[m|la|gradior|t=to step, walk]] and the noun.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and the OLD first find it in Varro,^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) who in his work on farming describes an aviary built up in steps like a little theatre.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From physical steps it passed to successive degrees or stages: Varro also has human life descending by degrees from the earliest times to his own age,^(OLD 2012) and Cicero uses it of duties owed in order of precedence, first to the gods, then to the country, then to parents, then to the rest.^(OLD 2012) Cicero pairs it with ''pedetentim'' for a cautious approach,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and uses it in rhetoric of rising step by step.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) The TLL finds it from Varro and Cicero on but not in the poets, except Prudentius.^(TLL)

+

+ Döderlein contrasts it and ''pedetentim'', which picture a deliberate advance, with [[paulatim]] and [[sensim]], an imperceptible one.^(Döderlein 1874) Medieval writers used it for step-by-step progress, of descending a ladder, in heraldry for a stepped design, and in building for storeys.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro describes an aviary built in steps.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of duties in order of precedence.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it in verse.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it figuratively of words advancing step by step.^(DMLBS)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # By steps, not steeply; at rising or falling intervals.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(transferred)'' By degrees, [[m|en|gradually]], step by step, progressively.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # In order of [[m|en|precedence]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin, heraldry)'' In the manner of steps.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}