I understand that minūtim is a conjugation of minūtus. Is that correct?
What does "ad minūtim" mean and what would minūtus mean?
1 Answer
No: minutim is an adverb derived from the past participle minutus (from minuo) plus the suffix -im, used to form adverbs with a distributive meaning often derived from past participles (such as cursim or festinatim)
While the adjectival participle minutus can mean 'minute', 'slender', 'thin', 'small', 'short', the adverb minutim can mean 'a little at a time', 'in small parts',' minutely', like the equivalent minute and minutatim.
The most correct locution is therefore not ad minutim (which is also fairly widespread), but ad minutum (which I do not think is of classical use): vendere ad minutum means 'to retail' (cfr. Du Cange et al., Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, s.v. retaiare).
To learn more about the various shades of meaning of the adverb minutim you can check the Thesaurus linguae Latinae s.v. minuo, col. 1044,17-35.
