alterno Latin · revision 7328
16 Oct 2026, 13:51 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Cicero|origins=la alter}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [aɫˈtɛr.noː]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [alˈtɛr.no]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''alternō''' (present infinitive alternāre, perfect active alternāvī, supine alternātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is from [[alternus]] “one after the other, alternate” with the verb suffix [[-ō]], from [[alter]] “the other”.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Gaffiot's earliest citation is from Cicero, of doing things by turns.^(Gaffiot 2016) The OLD's earliest citations are from Propertius and Virgil.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant to do one thing and then another, interchange, as Cicero's ''miscenda ista et alternanda'' “these must be mixed and alternated”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) In Propertius it meant to ebb and flow, in Virgil to waver in mind, and in Pliny to be variegated, to alternate, and to bear fruit in alternate years.^(OLD 2012) It meant to arrange in alternation, as in Columella, to produce by alternation, and in Ovid ''alternāre vicēs'' to change places or undergo transformation.^(OLD 2012) The TLL notes it is used almost always of two things.^(TLL)
+
+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to change.^(Stelten 1995) [[en|alternate]] came in the 1510s from its participle ''alternātus''.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of alternating.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of wavering.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny uses it of alternating crops.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 1510s – English ''alternate'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Verb===
+ # To do by turns, interchange.^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ # To ebb and flow; to waver.^(OLD 2012)
+ # To be variegated.^(OLD 2012)
+ # To [[m|en|alternate]]; to bear in alternate years.^(OLD 2012)
+ # To arrange alternately; to change places.^(OLD 2012)
+ # To give in rotation.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[alternabilis]]
+ * [[alternamentum]]
+ * [[alternātim]]
+ * [[alternātiō]]
+ * [[alternātus]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[alternus]]
+ * [[alter]]
+ * [[en|alternate]]
+ * [[en|alternative]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}