optimus
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See also: Optimus
Latin
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]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
[edit]- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈop.ti.mus/, [ˈɔpt̪ɪmʊs̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈop.ti.mus/, [ˈɔpt̪imus]
Adjective
[edit]optimus (feminine optima, neuter optimum); first/second declension
- 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
[edit]First/second-declension adjective.
Number | Singular | Plural | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Case / Gender | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
Nominative | optimus | optima | optimum | optimī | optimae | optima | |
Genitive | optimī | optimae | optimī | optimōrum | optimārum | optimōrum | |
Dative | optimō | optimō | optimīs | ||||
Accusative | optimum | optimam | optimum | optimōs | optimās | optima | |
Ablative | optimō | optimā | optimō | optimīs | |||
Vocative | optime | optima | optimum | optimī | optimae | optima |
Antonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]References
[edit]- “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[1], 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
- to wish prosperity to an undertaking: aliquid optimis ominibus prosequi (vid. sect. VI. 11., note Prosequi...)
- 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