potius

Latin

Adjective

potius

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of potior

Adverb

potius (not comparable)

1. rather
2. rather than (potius quam)

   ut potius in silvis Gallorum vita quam legionarius miles periclitetur ― in order that the life of Gauls might be hazarded in woods rather than a legionary soldier (Caesar, de Bello Gallico, VI, 34)

   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I.15:

     ut potius acie decernerent, quam inclusi

     to settle the quarrel in the field of battle rather than to be shut up

3. instead
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.99-100:

     “Quīn potius pācem aeternam pactōsque hymenaeōs / exercēmus?”

     [Juno says to Venus:] “Instead, why don’t we pursue an enduring peace, and arrange marriage [for Dido and Aeneas]?”

4. perhaps

References

• “potius”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “potius”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• potius in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• potius in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) there is nothing I am more interested in than..: nihil antiquius or prius habeo quam ut (nihil mihi antiquius or potius est, quam ut)