laete Latin · revision 36027

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''laetē''' (comparative laetius, superlative laetissimē)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|laetus|-ē|t1=glad; fertile, luxuriant]].^(OLD 2012)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014)^(Georges 1913) For the adjective, Walde–Hofmann and Pokorny, taking “fat, rich” as its older meaning, connected it with [[m|la|lāridum|t=bacon]] and [[m|la|largus|t=generous]]; de Vaan calls the reconstruction this needs very artificial.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Cicero,^(Köbler 2010) who in the ninth ''Philippic'' speaks of someone taking the death of the senate's leader “gladly and insolently”, ''laete atque insolenter''.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the sense “gladly, joyfully” it is used by Cicero and Livy, who says that games were watched more gladly because of successes in war;^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) Gellius has the superlative in ''laetissime gaudere'', “to rejoice most joyfully”.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ From the farming sense of the adjective it means “luxuriantly, abundantly”: Columella has a plant that comes into leaf more luxuriantly, and Pliny the Elder crops that grow more abundantly under honest hands.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) Livy uses it figuratively of the city reborn “more luxuriantly and fruitfully” as if from its roots.^(OLD 2012) Applied to speech it means “in a rich or florid style”: Quintilian sets speaking ''laete'' against speaking ''severe'', and Pliny the Younger worries that he has written more floridly than the severity of a speech allows.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016) Ecclesiastical Latin keeps it as “gladly, joyfully”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of taking a death gladly.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy writes of games watched more gladly after victories.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella uses the comparative of a plant leafing luxuriantly.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of a rich, florid style.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 165 AD – Gellius writes ''laetissime gaudere''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # [[m|en|luxuriant|alt=Luxuriantly]], [[m|en|abundant|alt=abundantly]].^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # In a rich or [[m|en|florid]] style.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+ # [[m|en|joyful|alt=Joyfully]], gladly.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[laetus]]

+ * [[laetitia]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}