Fromtam(“so”) +-tus(adjectival/adverbial ending); comparequantus,intus,subtus.
One alternate etymology supposes direct continuation fromProto-Indo-European*teh₂-n̥t-os.[1]
tantus (femininetanta,neutertantum);first/second-declension adjective
- of suchsize, of suchmeasure
- somuch,sogreat,such,so many
63BCE,
Cicero,
Catiline OrationsOratio in Catilinam Prima in Senatu Habita.32:
- Polliceor hoc vōbīs, Patrēs Cōnscrīptī:tantam in nōbīs cōnsulibus fore dīligentiam,tantam in vōbīs auctōritātem,tantam in equitibus Rōmānīs virtūtem,tantam in omnibus bonīs cōnsēnsiōnem, ut Catilīnae profectiōne omnia patefacta, inlūstrāta, oppressa, vindicāta esse videātis.
- I promise you this, Conscript Fathers: there will beso much diligence in us, the consuls,so much authority in you,so much courage in the Roman knights, andso much agreement among all good men, that by the departure of Catiline you may see everything be revealed, explained, suppressed — and avenged.
29BCE – 19BCE,
Virgil,
Aeneid1.33:
- Tantae mōlis erat Rōmānam condere gentem.
- Of such great effort was it to found the Roman people.
or, It wasso great a burden to found the Roman race.
(The gods conspire and humans suffer to found what will become an empire; i.e., so great the effort, so great the achievement.)
- Being naturally an adjective,tantus was then used substantively astantum (frequently with genitive) to mean"so much of","so many of"; astantī (pretiī) to mean"so high (a price)" [called the genitive of indefinite value]; adverbially astantum to mean"so much","to such degree" (cf.tam); astantō to mean"by so much". For all thesequantus has its coordinate functions.
First/second-declension adjective.
- ^De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “tam”, inEtymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill,→ISBN,page606
- “tantus”, inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879),A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “tantus”, inCharlton T. Lewis (1891),An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “tantus”, inGaffiot, Félix (1934),Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894),Latin Phrase-Book[1], London:Macmillan and Co.
- the frost set in so severely that..:tanta vis frigoris insecuta est, ut
- under such unfavourable circumstances:in tanta rerum (temporum) iniquitate
- he had such an extraordinary memory that..:memoria tanta fuit, ut
- (ambiguous) this much is certain:hoc (nottantum)certum est
- (ambiguous) to take only enough food to support life:tantum cibi et potionis adhibere quantum satis est
- (ambiguous) I will only say this much..:tantum orunum illud orhoc dico
