passim

English

WOTD – 2 January 2007

Etymology

From the Latin passim (“here and there, everywhere”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpæsɪm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adverb

passim (not comparable)

1. throughout or frequently
2. here and there

Usage notes

Used especially in citations, often with simply the name of a book or writer, to indicate that something (as a word, phrase, or idea) is to be found at many places throughout the section, book, or writings of the author cited.

Quotations

• 1751, David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals:

  The sceptics assert [Sext. Emp. adversus Math. lib. viii.], though absurdly, that the origin of all religious worship was derived from the utility of inanimate objects, as the sun and moon, to the support and well-being of mankind. This is also the common reason assigned by historians, for the deification of eminent heroes and legislators [Diod. Sic. passim.].

• 1978, Supreme Court of the United States, F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation:

  See also Hearings on H.R.8825 before the House Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 70th Cong., 1st Sess., passim (1928).

Translations

throughout; frequently

• Bulgarian: навсякъде (bg) (navsjakǎde)
• Dutch: passim (nl)

here and there

• Bulgarian: тук-там (bg) (tuk-tam)
• Dutch: passim (nl)
• French: passim (fr)
• German: passim (de)
• Greek: σποράδην (el) (sporádin)
• Japanese: あっちこっち (acchi kocchi)
• Latin: passim

Anagrams

• sampis

Latin

Etymology

From passus (“spread out”), from pandō (“I spread”).

Adverb

passim (not comparable)

1. everywhere

   Synonyms: ubique, quācumquē

2. here and there, hither and thither; (at or to different places)
3. without distinction, without order, randomly

   Synonym: prōmiscē

4. mindlessly, without thinking about it

   Synonym: temere

Descendants

• English: passim

References

• “passim”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “passim”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• passim in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2023) Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication
• passim 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)
• passim in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • far and wide; on all sides; everywhere: longe lateque, passim (e.g. fluere)
    

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin passim.

Adverb

passim

1. passim

Spanish

Adverb

passim

1. passim

Further reading

• “passim”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014