semper

See also: semper-

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sem-der.

Latin sem-

Proto-Indo-European *per-

Proto-Italic *per

Latin per

Latin -per

Latin semper

From sem-per, from Proto-Indo-European *sḗm (“one”), root of Latin semel (“once”) + -per (“throughout”). Analogous to semel +‎ -per. Cognates include Ancient Greek εἷς (heîs) and Sanskrit सकृत् (sa-kṛ́t). Compare singulus. For similar compositions see paulisper, quantisper, tantisper.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈsɛm.pɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈsɛm.per]

Adverb

semper (not comparable)

1. always, ever, forever, at all times, on each occasion, ongoing, constant

   Spero ut pacem semper habeant.

   I hope that they always have peace.

   • 166 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Andria 175–176:

     [...] et erī semper lēnitās / verēbar quōrsum ēvāderet.

     [...] and my master’s constant mildness — I was worried what the end result might turn out to be.

   • 8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 5.207–208:

     ‘vērē fruor semper: semper nitidissimus annus,
     arbor habet frondēs, pābula semper humus’

     “I enjoy spring forever: always a year most beautiful, [every] tree has foliage, ever the ground [its] pastures.”
     (See Flora (mythology).)

Synonyms

• aeternō

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “always”): numquam

Derived terms

• nōn semper Sāturnālia erunt
• pater semper incertus est
• semel furibundus, semper furibundus praesūmitur
• semel prō semper
• semper eadem
• semper fidēlis
• semper fortis
• semper parātus
• semper refōrmanda
• semper tālis
• semper-virēns
• sempiternus
• sic semper tyrannis

Descendants

• Asturian: siempre
• Ligurian: sénpre
• Dalmatian: siampre, siampro, sianpro
• Emilian: sänper
• Friulian: simpri
• Istriot: senpro
• Italian: sempre
  • → English: sempre
• Occitan: sempre
• Old Navarro-Aragonese:
  • Aragonese: siempre
• Old French: sempres
• Old Leonese:
  • Asturian: siempre
  • Mirandese: siempre
• Old Occitan:
  • Catalan: sempre
  • Occitan: sempre
• Old Galician-Portuguese: sempre
  • Fala: sempris
  • Galician: sempre
  • Portuguese: sempre
• Old Spanish: sienpre, siempre
  • Ladino: syempre
  • Spanish: siempre
    • → Central Bikol: siyempre
    • → Tagalog: siyempre
• Sardinian: semper (Limba Sarda Comuna), sèmpere, sèmpiri, sempre
• Sicilian: sempri, siempri
• Venetan: senpre, senper, senpro
• → English: semper-

Further reading

• “semper”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “semper”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “semper”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • nothing will ever make me forgetful of him: semper memoria eius in (omnium) mentibus haerebit
    

Sardinian

Etymology

From Latin semper, whose first element is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *sḗm (“one”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsemper/, [ˈsɛm.pɛ.ɾɛ̆]

Adverb

semper

1. always

Derived terms

• semper chi