The corpus record — Latin

dexter

to the right, on the right side, right

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Appendix Vergiliana 2 · 73.8/10k
Quomodo Trinitas Unus Deus Ac Non Tres Dii (De Trinitate) 5 · 17.21/10k
Ephemeris id est totius diei negotium 2 · 15.42/10k
Punica 112 · 14.68/10k
Cento Nuptialis 2 · 14.66/10k
De Bello Africo 19 · 14.61/10k
Panegyricus dictus Probino et Olybrio consulibus 2 · 11.75/10k
Saturae 5 · 11.04/10k
Psychomachia 6 · 9.99/10k
Timaeus 4 · 9.47/10k
In Rufinum 5 · 8.73/10k
Thebais 54 · 8.64/10k

Densest 12 of 147 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. dexter — Lewis & Short

dexter, tĕra, tĕrum, and more freq. tra, trum (

I dat. plur. fem.: dextrabus manibus, Liv. Andron. ap. Non. 493, 20.—Comp. dextĕrĭor; sup. dextĭmus), adj. dex-ter, root dek-, Gr. de/komai, whence da/ktulos, digitus; cf. Germ. Finger, from fangen; cf. also Sanscr. dakshinas, on the right hand, and Gr. dec-io/s, to the right, on the right side, right (opp. laevus, sinister).

I Prop.: ut ante oculos fuerit qui dexter hic idem nunc sit laevus, Lucr. 4, 302: manus, Plaut. Mil. 2, 2, 49; 50; id. Capt. 2, 3, 82; Cic. Div. 1, 23, 46: pars membrorum (opp. laeva), Lucr. 4, 293: umeri, Caes. B. G. 7, 50, 2: latus, Hor. Ep. 1, 16, 6; Ov. M. 13, 730 et saep.: cornu, Ter. Eun. 4, 7, 5; Caes. B. G. 1, 52, 2; 2, 23, 4 et saep.: ala, Liv. 31, 21: acies, id. 27, 48 et saep.: dextrarum tibiarum genus est, quae dextra tenentur, Paul. ex Fest. p. 74, 5 Müll. et saep.: dextra ejus (fluminis) accolunt Deximontani, Plin. 6, 23, 26, § 99.—Comp. in signification = dexter, but spoken of two only: in dexteriore parte, opp. sinisteriore, Varr. L. L. 9, § 34 Müll.; so, pars, opp. laeva, Ov. M. 7, 241: rota, opp. sinisterior, id. ib. 2, 138: armus, id. ib. 12, 303: umerus, Suet. Claud. 7: latus, id. Galb. 21: cornu, Galba ap. Cic. Fam. 10, 30, 3 et saep.—Sup.: dextimus, a, um, an ancient and rare form, in signif. i. q. dexter: dextima via, Varr. ap. Non. 94, 30: apud dextimos, Sall. J. 100, 2.—

II Trop. (perh. not in ante-Aug. prose).

1 Handy, dexterous, skilful; opportune, proper, suitable, fitting: rem ita dexter egit, ut, etc., Liv. 8, 36: et Marius scriptis dexter in omne genus, Ov. Pont. 4, 16, 24: quis rebus dexter modus, Verg. A. 4, 294: tempus, Hor. S. 2, 1, 18.—

2 (Since the Greeks regarded an omen on the right as favorable) favorable, propitious, fortunate: dextra auspicia prospera, Paul. ex Fest. p. 74, 4 Müll.; cf. omen, Val. Fl. 1, 245: dexter adi, Verg. A. 8, 302; cf.: dexter ac volens assit (numen), Quint. 4 prooem. 5: Jove, Pers. 5, 114: sidere, Stat. S. 3, 4, 63 et saep.—Hence,

2. dexter — Walde–Hofmann

dexter, -t(e)ro, -e)rum, Komp. (seit Varro) dexterior, Sup. (eit Coel) dextimus (nach ertimus, vgl. sinis-timus, Leumanntolz? 298 gegen Fay AJPh. 37,70%) „rechts; glückbringend, günstig. ewandt*, dezt(e)ra, -ae f. (sc. manus) „die Rechte“ (seit Liv. ndr., rom. [in der Bed. „rechts“ verdrängt durch dir£ctus|, ebenso -äle n. „Armband“ seit Itala, -älis f. [sc. secüris) „Handbeil“ seit Viet. Vit.; vgl. noch dextrörsum … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. dexter, p. 378]

Where it came from

Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. dexter (scan p. 195; entry #3036).
Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. dexter (scan pp. 378-379; entry #919). Root candidates: *de-, *dexovo-.

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Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.