adulter Latin · revision 6622
16 Oct 2026, 12:09 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
Initial text
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=back-formation|attested=Plautus|origins=la alter}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [aˈdʊɫ.tɛr]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [aˈdul.ter]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''adulter''' ''m'' (genitive adulterī); second declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is perhaps a back-formation from [[adulterō]] “to commit adultery, falsify”, from [[ad-]] and [[alter]] “other”.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) Festus explained it as one who goes to another man's wife or another woman's husband.^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Köbler's first source is Plautus, whom he dates c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ As a noun it meant an illicit lover, adulterer, as in Cicero, with the feminine [[adultera]], and Virgil and Horace call Paris and Helen ''adulter'' and ''adultera''.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) As an adjective it meant adulterous, unchaste, as Horace's hair curled like a lover's and Ovid's adulterous thoughts, and of things impure, adulterated, cross-bred or debased, with ''adultera clāvis'' “a skeleton key”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ In Medieval Latin it meant spurious, illegitimate, and unauthorized.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(DMLBS) It survives in French ''adultère'' and Spanish ''adúltero''.^(Wiktionary) [[en|adultery]] came about 1300 through Old French ''avouterie'', from ''avoutre'' “adulterer”.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of adulterers.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil calls Paris the Trojan adulterer.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 1300 – English ''adultery'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # An [[m|en|adulterer]], illicit lover.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ===Adjective===
+ # Adulterous, unchaste.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Impure, adulterated; debased, ''adultera clāvis'', a skeleton key.^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Spurious; illegitimate.^(Niermeyer 1976)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[adulterīnus]]
+ * [[adulterio]]
+ * [[adultera]]
+ * [[adulteritas]]
+ * [[adulterium]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[adulterātiō]]
+ * [[adulterātor]]
+ * [[adulterātrīx]]
+ * [[adulterō]]
+ * [[alter]]
+ * [[en|adultery]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}