alternus Latin · revision 6335

16 Oct 2026, 07:11 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Ennius|origins=la alter}}
+ 
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [aɫˈtɛr.nʊs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [alˈtɛr.nus]^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Forms==
+ '''alternus''' (feminine alterna, neuter alternum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is from [[alter]] “the other” with the suffix ⟨-nus⟩.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Köbler's first source is Ennius, whom the OLD cites for ''alternā vice'' “in turn”.^(Köbler 2010)^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Ennius 204–169 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant occurring in alternation, alternate, as Caesar's alternating beams and stones in a wall, of conversation spoken by two in turn, as in Virgil, and in Ovid of elegiac verse with its alternating lines.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) ''Alternā vice'' or ''alternīs vicibus'' meant “alternately, in turn”.^(OLD 2012) It meant successive, moving to and fro, answering, every other, as in Plautus, and mutual, reciprocal, as in Propertius.^(OLD 2012) In Virgil the neuter plural ''alternīs'' meant “by turns”.^(OLD 2012)
+ 
+ In Medieval Latin it meant alternate, reciprocal, and in the plural both.^(DMLBS) It survives in Spanish ''alterno''.^(Wiktionary) [[en|alternate]] comes from its verb ''alternāre'' in the 1510s, and [[en|alternative]] from Medieval Latin ''alternātīvus''.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius uses ''alternā vice''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of every other.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of alternating beams and stones.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 1510s – English ''alternate'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Adjective===
+ # [[m|en|Alternate]], alternating, ''alternīs'', by turns.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Successive.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Moving to and fro; answering.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Every other.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Mutual, reciprocal.^(OLD 2012)
+ 
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[alternō]]
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[alter]]
+ * [[en|alternate]]
+ * [[en|alternative]]
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}