extremus

Latin

Etymology

From earlier *extrezmo- < *exterezemo- < *exterisemo-, from Proto-Italic *eksterisemos. Equivalent to exter +‎ -ēmus. Same development as postrēmus and suprēmus. Compare with extimus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɛkˈstreː.mʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ekˈstrɛː.mus]

Adjective

extrēmus (superlative, feminine extrēma, neuter extrēmum); first/second declension

1. superlative degree of exter
   1. (spatial) farthest, outermost, extreme
      • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de bello Gallico 1.6:

        Extrēmum oppidum Allobrogum est proximumque Helvētiōrum fīnibus Genāva.

        The farthest town of the Allobroges, and nearest to the borders of the Helvetii, is Geneva.

   2. (temporal) coming at the end, last, final, ultimate

      Antonym: prīmus

      • 106 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Cato Maior de Senectute 2.5:

        […] ā quā nōn vērī simile est, cum cēterae partēs aetātis bene dēscrīptae sint, extrēmum āctum tamquam ab inertī poēta esse neglēctum.

        It is simply not likely that [nature], having composed the other acts of life’s drama so well, would have neglected the final act like some unskillful poet.
        (The phrase vērī simile — literally “similar to the truth” — is a Latin idiom for “likely” or “probable.”)

   3. extreme in degree, intense
   4. (denoting a part from a bigger whole) the end, edge or tip of something:
      1. (spatial)

         Synonyms: ultimus, postrēmus, prīmus

         extrēmus liber ― the end of a book

         extrēmī digitī ― one's fingertips

      2. (temporal)

         Antonym: prīmus

         extrēma ōrātiō ― the end of an oration

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	extrēmus	extrēma	extrēmum		extrēmī	extrēmae	extrēma
genitive	extrēmī	extrēmae	extrēmī		extrēmōrum	extrēmārum	extrēmōrum
dative	extrēmō	extrēmae	extrēmō		extrēmīs
accusative	extrēmum	extrēmam	extrēmum		extrēmōs	extrēmās	extrēma
ablative	extrēmō	extrēmā	extrēmō		extrēmīs
vocative	extrēme	extrēma	extrēmum		extrēmī	extrēmae	extrēma

Coordinate terms

(adjectives denoting a part from a bigger whole (partitive)):

• īmus, īnfimus (“lowest part of”) / suprēmus, summus (“highest part of”)
• prīmus (“beginning of”) / ultimus, postrēmus (“last part of”)
• medius (“middle of”); intimus (“inermost part of, deepest part of”)

Derived terms

• extrēmitās

Descendants

• → Catalan: extrem
• → English: extreme
• → Middle French: extreme
  • French: extrême
    • → Romanian: extrem
• → German: extrem
• → Galician: extremo
• → Italian: estremo, stremo
• → Portuguese: extremo
• → Spanish: extremo
• → Swedish: extrem

Noun

extrēmus m (genitive extrēmī); second declension

1. rear
2. end

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	extrēmus	extrēmī
genitive	extrēmī	extrēmōrum
dative	extrēmō	extrēmīs
accusative	extrēmum	extrēmōs
ablative	extrēmō	extrēmīs
vocative	extrēme	extrēmī

Descendants

• → Catalan: extrem
• → English: extreme
• → Middle French: extreme
  • French: extrême
• → Galician: estremo, extremo
• → Italian: estremo, stremo
• → Piedmontese: estrem
• → Portuguese: extremo
• → Spanish: extremo

References

• “extremus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “extremus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “extremus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the most distant countries, the world's end: extremae terrae partes
    
  • (ambiguous) on the edge of the hill: ad extremum tumulum
    
  • (ambiguous) at the end of the year: exeunte, extremo anno
    
  • (ambiguous) to touch with the fingertips: extremis digitis aliquid attingere
    
  • (ambiguous) the last stage of life, one's last days: extrema aetas
    
  • (ambiguous) the last stage of life, one's last days: extremum tempus aetatis
    
  • (ambiguous) to give up the ghost: extremum vitae spiritum edere
    
  • (ambiguous) to inflict a death-blow: plagam extremam or mortiferam infligere
    
  • (ambiguous) affairs are desperate; we are reduced to extremeties: res ad extremum casum perducta est
    
  • (ambiguous) affairs are desperate; we are reduced to extremeties: ad extrema perventum est
    
  • (ambiguous) to be reduced to one's last resource: ad extremum auxilium descendere
    
  • (ambiguous) to have recourse to extreme measures: descendere ad extrema consilia (Fam. 10. 33. 4)
    
  • (ambiguous) to go back to the remote ages: repetere ab ultima (extrema, prisca) antiquitate (vetustate), ab heroicis temporibus
    
  • (ambiguous) at the end of the book: in extremo libro (Q. Fr. 2. 7. 1)
    
  • (ambiguous) to put the finishing touch to a work: extrema manus accēdit operi (active extremam manum imponere operi)
    
  • (ambiguous) the rearguard: agmen novissimum (extremum)
    
• Sihler, Andrew L. (1995), New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN