memoriter

English

WOTD – 8 October 2015

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin memoriter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /məˈmɒɹɪtə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adverb

memoriter (not comparable)

1. By, or from, memory; by heart.
   • 1818, John Henry Capper, 10 Papers Relating to the Convict Establishment, House of Commons Papers, Volume 16, Great Britain House of Commons, unnumbered page,

     The Holy Scriptures are daily read by them in general; and five-and-twenty chapters of them are, on an average, recited memoriter in the chapel every week.

   • 1832, Princeton Theological Seminary, Catalogue of the Officers and Students of the Theological Seminary, New Jersey: Princeton, page 16:

     Dr. C. W. Hodoe presides at the weekly speaking of the Junior and Middle Classes, each member of which is, in his turn, expected to deliver original discourses, memoriter.

   • 1837, University of the State of New York, Annual Report of the Regents, volumes 50-51, page 90:

     There are certain subjects of study, which must, of course, be learned memoriter.

Adjective

memoriter (not comparable)

1. That is or has been recited from memory; that has been learned by heart.

   memoriter evidence; memoriter preaching

   • 1839, Art. VI — An Economical Method of Studying the Classics: American Annals of Education, page 181:

     […] and he must exercise a constant vigilance, to guard against a mere memoriter and unintelligent study, […] .

   • 1860, John Joseph Halcombe, Frederick Kingsbury, The Speaker at Home, page 70:

     One difficulty attending memoriter speaking is, that the attention is likely to be concentrated upon words and periods rather than upon the whole subject, so that often on coming to the end of a sentence the speaker will have lost the thread of his argument, and there will be a total blank presented to his mind.

   • 2012, John Dewey, Democracy and Education, page 181:

     The complaints of educators that learning does not enter into character and affect conduct; the protests against memoriter work, against cramming, against gradgrind preoccupation with "facts," against devotion to wire-drawn distinctions and ill-understood rules and principles, all follow from this state of affairs.

2. Of, pertaining to, or involved with the practice of recitation or learning by heart.
   • 1816, John Edwards Caldwell, editor, Christian Herald and Seaman's Magazine, volume 2, page 12:

     Wherever perfectly convenient, it is proposed that each member of these memoriter Societies should pay an annual tax, […] .

   • 1984, Harold H. Oliver, Relatedness: Essays in Metaphysics and Theology, page 108:

     From a phenomenological point of view, "futurity" is the name we give to the anticipatory mode of Immediacy; "pastness," to the memoriter mode of Immediacy.

Latin

Etymology

memor (“mindful, that has a good memory”) +‎ -ter.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /meˈmo.ri.ter/, [mɛˈmɔrɪt̪ɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /meˈmo.ri.ter/, [meˈmɔːrit̪er]

Adverb

memoriter (not comparable)

1. From memory, by heart.

References

• “memoriter”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• memoriter in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (1) with good memory; (2) from personal recollection: memoriter