pedetemptim
Meaning
- gradually, cautiously, step-by-step
Pedetemptim (tu hoc scis) tractari satiust hasce huius modi mercis.
c. 206 BCE, Plautus, Miles Gloriosus 4.2.33Eam ego viam pedetemptim temptabam.
I myself was cautiously attempting this path.234 BCE – 149 BCE, Marcus Porcius Cato, Orationum Fragmenta 45
Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms
Paulatim · Sensim · Gradatim · Pedetentim
Paulatim and sensim represent gradual motion under the image of an imperceptible progress; paulatim, by little and little, in opp. to semel, at once, Sen. Q. N. ii. 8. Cœl. Aurel. Acut. ii. 37; sensim, (ἀνεσίμως) imperceptibly in opp. to repente; Cic. Off. i. 33. Suet. Tib. 11;—whereas gradatim and pedetentim, under the image of a self-conscious progress; gradatim, step by step, like βάδην, in opp. to cursim, saltuatim, etc.; whereas pedetentim denotes at a foot’s pace, in opp. to curru, equo, volatu, velis. (iii. 97.)
quaerendis pedetentim vadis, in terram evasere, Liv. 21, 28 fin.—pedetemptim et gradatim accessus, id. Fam. 9, 14, 7; cf.: paulatim et ut dicitur pedetentim interrogando, Quint. 5, 7, 20: timide et pedetemptim istuc descendunt, Cic. Quint. 16; cf.: caute pedetemptimque omnia dicere, id. Clu. 42: viam tentare, Cato ap. Charis. p. 190 P.: di bene vortant quod agas! pedetemptim tamen, Ter. Phorm. 3, 3, 19.—Comp.: pedetemptius tibi consulam, M. Aur. ap. Front. Ep. ad M. Caes. 3, 2.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
Origins
pedetentim seems to imply ped- (“foot”) + tendō (“stretch out, extend”) + -tim, but compare the relation between temptō and tentō.