optimus

See also: Optimus

Latin

Alternative forms

Etymology

Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi (“at, near; on”), whence also ob + superlative suffix: -tumus/-timus. Less likely from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep- (“to work, toil; ability, force”), whence also ops and opus. Displaced bonissimus as the superlative of bonus.

Pronunciation
  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈop.ti.mus/, [ˈɔpt̪ɪmʊs̠]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈop.ti.mus/, [ˈɔpt̪imus]
  • Audio (Classical)(file)

Adjective

optimus (feminine optima, neuter optimum); first/second declension

  1. superlative degree of bonus; best
    Hic mundus perfectissimus est etiam mundorum possibilium omnium optimus
    This most perfect world is even the best of all possible worlds
    (Immanuel Kant, echoing Leibniz)

Declension

Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)

Antonyms

Derived terms

Descendants
  • → Catalan: òptim
  • → French: optime
  • → Friulian: otim
  • → Galician: óptimo
  • → Italian: ottimo
  • → Piedmontese: òtim
  • → Portuguese: ótimo
  • → Romanian: optim
  • → Sardinian: òttimu
  • → Spanish: óptimo

References
  • “bonus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • optimus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
  • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
    • to wish prosperity to an undertaking: aliquid optimis ominibus prosequi (vid. sect. VI. 11., note Prosequi...)
    • an ideal: species optima or eximia, specimen, also simply species, forma
    • Plato's ideal republic: civitas optima, perfecta Platonis
    • the sciences; the fine arts: optima studia, bonae, optimae, liberales, ingenuae artes, disciplinae
    • to be interested in, have a taste for culture: optimarum artium studio incensum esse
    • to have received a liberal education: optimis studiis or artibus, optimarum artium studiis eruditum esse
    • at the time of a most satisfactory government: optima re publica
    • the aristocracy (as a party in politics): boni cives, optimi, optimates, also simply boni (opp. improbi); illi, qui optimatium causam agunt
    • with full right: optimo iure
    • to have a good case: causam optimam habere (Lig. 4. 10)
    • legitimately; with the fullest right: optimo iure (cf. summo iure, sect. XV. 1).
    • (ambiguous) to deserve well at some one's hands; to do a service to..: bene, praeclare (melius, optime) mereri de aliquo
    • (ambiguous) my dear father: pater optime or carissime, mi pater (vid. sect. XII. 10)
    • (ambiguous) to hope well of a person: bene, optime (meliora) sperare de aliquo (Nep. Milt. 1. 1)
    • (ambiguous) to have the good of the state at heart: bene, optime sentire de re publica
  • De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “ob”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 421
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.