ab

English

Etymology

Shortened from abdominal.

Noun

ab (plural abs)

1. (rare) singular of abs

---

German

Etymology

Old High German ab

Preposition

ab

1. Beginning at that time or location; from

   ab heute verfügbar - available from today on

Prefix

ab-

1. from, away from, down from

   abfahren - depart from

   abbuchen - deduct from

   Der Zug fährt um 10 Uhr ab - The train departs at 10 o'clock

---

Latin

Preposition

ab (also a) Takes object in ablative case

1. of, from

ăb, ā, abs, preposition with the ablative case. This Indo-European particle (Sanscrit apa or ava; Etruscan av; Greek 'απó; Gothic af; Old German aba; New German ab; English of, off) has in Latin the following forms: ap, af, ab (av), au-, â, ă; aps, abs, as-. The existence of the oldest form, ap, is proved by the oldest and best manuscripts analogous to the preposition apud, the Sanscrit api, and the Greek 'επí, and by the weakened form, af, which, by the rule of historical grammar and the nature of the Latin letter f, can be derived only from ap, not from ab. The form af, weakened from ap, also very soon became obsolete. There are but five examples of it in inscriptions, at the end of the sixth and in the course of the seventh century B.C., namely: AF VOBEIS, Inscriptiones Orelli, 3114; AF MVRO, ibidem 6601; AF CAPVA, ibidem 3308; AF SOLO, ibidem 589; AF LYCO, ibidem 3036 (afvolunt=avolant, Paul ex Sextus Pompeius Festus page 26. Karl Ottfried Müller [editor of Festus] is only a conjecture). In the time of Cicero this form was regarded as archaic, and only here and there used in account-books; see Cicero's Orator ad M. Brutum 47, 158 (where the correct reading is af, not abs or ab), and compare Friedrich Wilhelm Ritschl's, Priscae Latinitatis Monumenta Epigraphica page 7 and following.—The second form of this preposition, changed from ap, was ab, which has become the principal form and the one most generally used through all periods—and indeed the only one used before all vowels and h; here and there also before some consonants, particularly l, n, r, and s; rarely before c, j, d, t; and almost never before the labials p, b, f, v, or before m, such examples as ab Massiliensibus, Caesar's Bellum Civile 1, 35, being of the most rare occurrence.—By changing the b of ab through v into u, the form au originated, which was in use only in the two compounds aufero and aufugio for ab-fero, ab-fugio; aufuisse for afuisse, in the Codex laurentianus mediceus of Tacitus A. 12. 17, is altogether unusual. Finally, by dropping the b of ab and lengthening the a, ab was changed into â, which form, together with ab, predominated through all periods of the Latin language, and took its place before all consonants in the later years of Cicero, and after him almost exclusively.—By dropping the b without lengthening the a, ab occurs in the form ă- in the two compounds ă-bîto and ă-pĕrio, quod videas.—On the other hand, instead of reducing ap to a and ă, a strengthened collateral form, aps, was made by adding to ap the letter s (also used in particles, as in ex, mox, vix). From the first, aps was used only before the letters c, q, t, and was very soon changed into abs (as ap into ab): abs chorago, Plautus' Persa 1, 3, 79 (159 Ritschl): abs quivis, Tertullianus' Ad Uxorem 2, 3, 1: abs terra, Cato, De Rustica 51; and in compounds: aps-cessero, Plautus' Trinummus 3, 1, 24 (625 Ritschl); idem ibidem 3, 2, 84 (710 Ritschl): abs-condo, abs-que, abs-tineo, etc. The use of abs was confined almost exclusively to the combination abs te during the whole ante-classic period, and with Cicero till about the year 700 A [b].U[rbe].C[ondita]. (=B.C. 54). After that time Cicero evidently hesitates between abs te and a te, but during the last five or six years of his life a te became predominant in all his writings, even in his letters; consequently abs te apeas but rarely in later authors, as in Titus Livius 10, 19, 8; 26, 15, 12; and who, perhaps, also used abs conscendentibus, idem 28, 37, 2; vide Arnold Drakenborch [editor of Livy] ad hunc locum (W. Weissenborn [editor of Livy] ab).—Finally abs, in consequence of the following p, lost its b, and became âs- in the three compounds as-pello, as-porto, and as-pernor (for as-spernor); vide these words.—The late Latin verb abbrevio may stand for adbrevio, the d of ad being assimilated to the following b. The fundamental signification of ab is departure from some fixed point (opposed to ad, which denotes motion to a point). I. In space, and, II. Figuratively, in time and other relations, in which the idea of departure from some point, as from source and origin, is included; English from, away from, out of; down from; since, after; by, at, in, on, etc.

I. Literally, in space: ab classe ad urbem tendunt, Lucius Accius (or Attius) in Nonius Marcellus 495, 22 (Trag. Rel. p. 177 Otto Ribbeck): Caesar maturat ab urbe proficisci, Caesar Bellum Gallicum 1, 7: fuga ab urbe turpissima, Cicero Epistolae ad Atticum 7, 21: ducite ab urbe domum, ducite Daphnim, Vergil Eclogae 8, 68. Cicero himself gives the difference between ab and ex thus: si qui mihi praesto fuerit cum armatis hominibus extra meum fundum et me introire prohibuerit, non ex eo, sed ab (from, away from) eo loco me dejecerit. ... Unde dejecti Galli? A Capitolio. Unde, qui cum Graccho fuerunt? Ex Capitolio, etc., Cicero Oratio pro Caecinâ 30, 87; compare Diomedes p. 408 P., and a similar distinction between ad and in under ad. Elliptically: Diogenes Alexandro roganti, ut diceret, si quid opus esset: Nunc quidem paululum, inquit, a sole, a little out of the sun, Cicero Tusculanae Disputationes 5, 32, 92.—Often joined with usque: illam (mulierem) usque a mari supero Romam proficisci, all the way from, Cicero Oratio pro Cluentio 68, 192; vide usque, I.—And with ad, to denote the space passed over: siderum genus ab ortu ad occasum commeant, from...to, Cicero De Deorum Naturâ 2, 19 init.; compare ab...in; venti a laevo latere in dextrum, ut sol, ambiunt, Plinius 2, 47, 48, § 128.

b. Sometimes with names of cities and small islands, or with domus (instead of the usual ablative) particularly, in military and nautical language, to denote the marching of soldiers, the setting out of a fleet, or the departure of the inhabitants from some place: oppidum ab Aenea fugiente a Trojâ conditum, Cicero's Actio in Verrem 2, 4, 33: quemadmodum (Caesar) a Gergovia discederet, Caesar's Bellum Gallicum 7, 43 at the end; so idem ibidem 7, 80 at the end; Sallustius Crispus' Jugurtha 61; 82; 91; Livius 2, 33, 6 and others; compare: ab Arimino M. Antonium cum cohortibus quinque Arretium mittit, Caesar's Bellum Civile 1, 11 at the end; and: protinus a Corfinio in Siciliam miserat, idem ibidem 1, 25, 2: profecti a domo, Livius 40, 33, 2; of setting sail: cum exercitus vestri numquam a Brundisio nisi hieme summâ transmiserint, Cicero's Oratio de Imperio Cn. Pompei [or Pro Lege Maniliâ] 12, 32; so idem Epistulae Familiares 15, 3, 2; Caesar Bellum Civile 3, 23; 3, 24 at the end: classe quâ advecti ab domo fuerant, Livius 8, 22, 6; of citizens: interim ab Roma legatos venisse nuntiatum est, Livius 21, 9, 3; compare: legati ab Orico ad M. Valerium praetorem venerunt, idem 24, 40, 2.

c. Sometimes with names of persons or with pronouns: pestem abige a me, Ennius in Cicero's Academicae Quaestiones 2, 28, 89 (Tragoediae v. 50 Joannes Vahlen: Quasi ad adulescentem a patre ex Seleucia veniat, Plautus Trinummus 3, 3, 41; compare: libertus a Fufiis cum litteris ad Hermippum venit, Cicero's Oratio pro L. Flacco 20, 47: Nigidium a Domitio Capuam venisse, idem Epistulae ad Atticum 7, 24: cum a vobis discessero, idem De Senectute [or Cato Major] 22: multa merces tibi defluat ab Jove Neptunoque, Horace's Carmina [or Odae] 1, 28, 29 others. So often of a person instead of a person instead of his house, lodging, etc.: videat forte hic te a patre aliquis exiens, from the father, i.e. from his house, P. Terentius Afer's Heautontimorumenos 2, 2, 6; so a fratre, idem Phormio 5, 1, 5: a Pontio, Cicero's Epistulae ad Atticum 5, 3 at the end: ab eâ, P. Terentius Afer's Andria 1, 3, 21; and so often: a me, a nobis, a se, etc., from my, our, his house, etc. T. Plautus' Stichus 5, 1, 7; P. Terentius Afer's Heautontimorumenos 3, 2, 50; Cicero's Epistulae ad Atticum 4, 9, 1 and others.

B. Transfer without the idea of motion. To designate separation or distance, with the verbs abesse, distare, etc. and with the particles longe, procul, prope, etc. 1. Of separation: ego te afuisse tam diu a nobis dolui, Cicero's Epistulae ad Familiares 2, 1, 2: abesse a domu paulisper maluit, idem Actio in Verrem 2, 4, 18, § 39: tum Brutus ab Româ aberat, C. Sallustius Crispus' Catilina 40, 5: absint lacerti ab stabulis, Vergil's Georgica 4, 14.—2. Of distance: quot milia fundus suus abesset ab urbe, Cicero's Oratio pro Caecinâ 10, 28; compare: nos in castra properabamus, quae aberant bidui, idem Epistulae ad Atticum 5, 16 at the end; and: hic locus aequo fere spatio ab castris Ariovisti et Caesaris aberat, Caesar's Bellum Gallicum 1, 43, 1: terrae ab hujusce terrae, quam nos incolimus, continuatione distantes, Cicero's De Deorum Naturâ 2, 66, 164: non amplius pedum milibus duobus ab castris castra distabant, Caesar's Bellum Civile 1, 82, 3; compare idem ibidem, 1, 3, 103.—With adverbs: annos multos longinque ab domo bellum gerentes, Ennius in Nonius Marcellus 402, 3 (Tragoediae v. 103 Joannes Vahlen): cum domus patris a foro longe abesset, Cicero's Oratio pro M. Caelio 7, 18 at the end; compare: qui fontes a quibusdam praesidiis aberant longius, Caesar's Bellum Civiles 3, 49, 5: quae procul erant a conspectu imperi, Cicero's Orationes de Lege Agrariâ 2, 32, 87; compare: procul a castris hostes in collibus constiterunt, Caesar's Bellum Gallicum 5, 17, 1: and: tu procul a patria Alpinas nives vides, Vergil's Eclogae 10, 46 (procul often also with simple ablative; see procul): cum esset in Italia bellum tam prope a Sicilia, tamen in Sicilia non fuit, Cicero's Actio in Verrem 2, 5, 2, § 6; compare: tu apud socrum tuam prope a meis aedibus sedebas, idem Oratio in Pisonem 11, 26; and: tam prope ab domo detineri, idem Actio in Verrem 2, 2, 3, § 6.—So in Cæsar and Livy, with numerals to designate the measure of the distance: onerariae naves, quae ex eo loco ab milibus passuum octo vento tenebatur, eight miles distant, Caesar's Bellum Gallicum 4, 22, 4; and without mentioning the terminus a quo: ad castra contenderunt, et ab milibus passuum minus duobus castra posuerunt, less than two miles off or distant, idem ibidem 2, 7, 3; so idem ibidem 2, 5, 32; 6, 7, 3; idem Bellum Civile 1, 65; Titus Livius 38, 20, 2 (for which: duo milia fere et quingentos passus ab hoste posuerunt castra, idem 37, 38, 5).—3. To denote the side or direction from which an object is viewed in its local relations,=a parte, at, on, in: utrum hacin feriam an ab laevâ latus? Ennius in Plautus' Cistellaria 3, 10 (Tragedy v. 38 Joannes Vahlen); compare: picus et cornix ab laevâ, corvos, parra ab dexterâ consuadent, Plautus' Asinaria 2, 1, 12: clamore ab ea parte audito, on this side, Caesar's Bellum Gallicum 3, 26, 4: Gallia Celtica attingit ab Sequanis et Helvetiis flumen Rhenum, on the side of the Sequani, i.e. their country, idem ibidem 1, 1, 5: pleraque Alpium ab Italiâ sicut breviora ita arrectiora sunt, on the Italian side, Titus Livius 21, 35, 11: non eadem diligentiâ ab decumanâ portâ castra munita, at the main entrance, Caesar's Bellum Gallicum 3, 25 at the end: erat a septentrionibus collis, on the north, idem ibidem 7, 83, 2; so, ab oriente, a meridie, ab occasu; a fronte, a latere, a tergo, etc. (see these words).

II. Figuratively. A. In time. 1. From a point of time, without reference to the period subsequently elapsed. After: Exul ab octava Marius bibit, Junius Juvenalis 1, 49: mulieres jam ab re divinâ adparebunt domi, immediately after the sacrifice, Plautus' Poenulus 3, 3, 4: Caesar ab decimae legionis cohortatione ad dextrum cornu profectus, Caesar's Bellum Gallicum 2, 25, 1: ab hac contione legati missi sunt, immediately after, Titus Livius 24, 22, 6; compare idem 28, 33, 1: 40, 47, 8; 40, 49, 1 others: ab eo magistratu, after this office, Sallustius Crispus' Jugurtha 63, 5: a summâ spe novissima exspectabat, after the greatest hope, Tacitus' Annales 6, 50 at the end.—Strengthened by the adverbs primum, confestim, statim, protinus, or the adjective recens, immediately after, soon after: ut primum a tuo digressu Romam veni, Cicero's Epistulae ad Atticum 1, 5, 4; so Suetonius' Tiberius 68: confestim a proelio expugnatis hostium castris, Livius' 30, 36, 1: statim a funere, Suetonius' Julius Caesar 85; and followed by statim: ab itinere statim, idem ibidem 60: protinus ab adoptione, Velleius Paterculus 2, 104, 3: Homerus qui recens ab illorum aetate fuit, soon after their time, Cicero's De Deorum Naturâ 3, 5; so Terentius Varro's De Re Rusticâ 2, 8, 2; Vergil's Aeneis 6, 450 others (see also primum, confestim, etc.)—Sometimes with the name of a person or place, instead of an action: ibi mihi tuae litterae binae redditae sunt tertio abs te die, i. e. after their departure from you, Cicero's Epistulae ad Atticum 5, 3, 1: in Italiam perventum est quinto mense a Carthagine Novâ i. e. after leaving (=postquam a Carthagine profecti sunt), Livius 21, 38, 1: secundo Punico (bello) Scipiones classis XL. die a securi navigavit, i. e. after its having been built, Plinius 16, 39, 74 § 192.—Hence the poetic expression: ab his, after this (compare ἐκ τούτων), i. e. after these words, hereupon, Ovid's Metamorphoses 3, 273; 4, 329; 8, 612; 9, 764.

2. With reference to a subsequent period. From, since, after: ab horâ tertiâ bibebatur, from the third hour, Cicero's Orationes Philippicae in M. Antonium 2, 41: infinito ex tempore, non ut antea, ab Sullâ et Pompeio consulibus, since the consulship of, idem Orationes de Lege Agrariâ, 2, 21, 56: vixit ab omni aeternitate, from all eternity, idem De Divinatione ad M. Brutum 1, 51, 115: cum quo a condiscipulatu vivebat conjunctissime, Cornelius Nepos' Atticus 5, 3: in Lycia semper a terrae motu XL. dies serenos esse, after an earthquake, Pliny 2, 96, 98 § 211 others: centesima lux est haec ab interitu P. Clodii, since the death of, Cicero's Oratio pro Milone 35, 98; compare: cujus a morte quintus hic et tricesimus annus est, idem De Senectute 6, 19; and: ab incenso Capitolio illum esse vigesumum annum, since, Sallustius Crispus' Catilina 47, 2: diebus triginta, a quâ die materia caesa est, Caesar's Bellum Civile 1, 36—Sometimes joined with usque and inde: quod augures omnes usque ab Romulo decreverunt, since the time of, Ciceros' Oratio in Vatinium 8, 20: jam inde ab infelici pugnâ ceciderant animi, from the very beginning of, Livy 2, 65 at the end.—Hence the adverbial expressions ab initio, a principio, a primo, at, in, or from the beginning, at first; see initium, principium, primus. Likewise ab integro, anew, afresh; see integer.—Ab ... ad, from (a time) ... to: ab horâ octavâ ad vesperum secreto collocuti sumus, Cicero's Epistulae ad Atticum 7, 8, 4; compare: cum ab horâ septimâ ad vesperum pugnatum sit, Caesar's Bellum Gallicum 1, 26, 2; and: a quo tempore ad vos consules anni sunt septigenti octoginta unus, P. Velleius Peterculus 1, 8, 4; and so in Plautus strengthened by usque: pugnata pugnast usque a mane ad vesperum, from morning to evening, Plautus' Amphitruo 1, 1, 97; idem Mostellaria 3, 1, 3; 3, 2, 80.—Rarely ab ... in: Romani ab sole orto in multum diei stetere in acie, from ... till late in the day, Livy 27, 2, 9; so Columella 2, 10, 17; Pliny 2, 31, 31, § 99; 2, 103, 106, § 229; 4, 12, 26, § 89.

b. Particularly with nouns denoting a time of life: qui homo cum animo inde ab ineunte aetate depugnat suo, from an early age, from early youth, Plautus' Trinummus 2, 2, 24; so Cicero's De Officiis 2, 13, 44 others: mihi magna cum eo jam inde a pueritiâ fuit semper familiaritas, Terrentius Afer's Heautontimorumenos 1, 2, 9; so, a pueritiâ, Cicero's Tusculanae Disputationes 2, 11, 27 at the end; idem Epistulae ad Familiarem 5, 8, 4: jam inde ab adulescentiâ, Terence Afer's Adelphia 1, 1, 16: ab adulescentiâ, Cicero's De Re Publicâ 2, 1: jam a primâ adulescentiâ, idem Epistulae ad Familiarem 1, 9, 23: ab ineunte adulescentiâ, idem ibidem 13, 21, 1; compare followed by ad: usque ad hanc aetatem ab ineunte adulescentiâ,

Footnotes:

1. Template:note Otto Ribbeck (1827-1898), editor of Vergil and of the Scenicae Romanorum Poësis Fragmenta, and author of a Brief Treatise on the Latin Particles.
2. Template:note Joannes Vahlen (1830-1911) editor of the Fragments of Ennius, Lucilius, etc.

REFERENCE: Lewis and Short's Latin Dictionary, Oxford, 1879.

---

Old High German

Etymology

Common Germanic *abha, whence also Old English æf, Old Norse af

Preposition

ab

1. of

---

Romany

Noun

ab

1. river

---

Volapük

Conjunction

ab

1. but