Alterno, alternas, alternâre. Plin. To doe by course: and being referred to the minde signifieth to wauer: to be vnconstant.Dabimus operam vt in ordinibus disponendis, pari numero vernaculas & atinias alternemus. Col. To set a ranke one of the one sort, and an other of the other sort, throughout in like number.
Alternus, Adiectiuum. Cic.That is done by course.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
alterno, āvi, ātum, 1, v. a. and n. [alternus]: aliquid, to do one thing and then another, to do a thing by turns, to interchange with something, to alternate (first in the poets of the Aug. per., later most freq. in Pliny): alternare vices, Ov. M. 15, 409: alternant spesque timorque fidem,
make it at one time credible
,
at another not
, id. H. 6, 38: hirundines in fetu summā aequitate alternant cibum, i. e.
give to the young their food in succession
, Plin. 10, 33, 49, 92; so id. 15, 3, 3, 12; 29, 4, 20, 68; Col. 5, 6, 4; Sil. 1, 554; 9, 354; 11, 60; Suet. Ner. 1.—Without an obj.: haec alternanti potior sententia visa est,
hesitating
, Verg. A. 4, 287: alternantes proelia miscent,
fight by turns
, id. G. 3, 220: arborum fertilitas omnium fere alternat, alternates, i. e. they bear every other year, Plin. 16, 6, 7, 18; so id. 31, 3, 23, 40; 37, 10, 60, 167.—With cum: cum symphoniā alternāsse, Plin. 10, 29, 43, 84.
alternus, a, um, adj. [alter], one after the other, by turns, interchangeable, alternate (class. and also poet.). I. In gen.: (Sem)VNIS. ALTERNEI. ADVOCAPIT. CONCTOS (i. e. Semones alterni advocate cunctos), Carm. Fr. Arv. 36 (v. advoco fin.): alternā vice inire, Enn. ap. Charis. p. 214 P. (Trag. v. 151 Vahl.): alternae arbores, Plaut. Trin. 2, 4, 138: Alterno tenebras et lucem tempore gigni, Lucr. 5, 978: ex duabus orationibus capita alterna recitare, Cic. Clu. 51, 140: alternis trabibus ac saxis,
with beams and stones regularly interchanged
, Caes. B. G. 7, 23 Herz.: (bibere) alternis diebus modo aquam, modo vinum, Cels. 3, 2: Alterno terram quatiunt pede, Hor. C. 1, 4, 7: per alternas vices, Ov. P. 4, 2, 6: vix hostem, alterni si congrediamur, habemus, Verg. A. 12, 233; 6, 121: alternum foedus amicitiae, Cat. 109, 6: alternus metus, mutual or reciprocal fear, Liv. 26, 25; cf. id. 23, 26: alternas servant praetoria ripas,
the opposite
, Stat. S. 1, 3, 25: aves,
the eagles which stand opposite to each other
, Claud. Mall. Theod. prol. 16 (v. the passage in its connection): alternis paene verbis T. Manlii factum laudans,
, Verg. E. 3, 59: versibus alternis, Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 146: alternis aptum sermonibus, alternate discourse, i. e. dialogue, id. A. P. 81. —Of verses: interchanging between hexameter and pentameter, elegiac: pedes alternos esse oportebit, Cic. de Or. 3, 50, 193: epigramma alternis versibus longiusculis, id. Arch. 10, 25; Ov. H. 15, 5: canere alterno carmine, id. F. 2, 121; so id. Tr. 3, 1, 11; 3, 1, 56; 3, 7, 10 (cf.: modos impares, id. ib. 2, 220).—II. Esp., in the Roman courts of justice the accused, and afterwards the accuser, could alternately reject all the judges appointed by the prætor; hence, alterna consilia or alternos judices reicere,
to reject by turns
, Cic. Vatin. 11, 27; id. Planc. 15, 36: cum alternae civitates rejectae sunt, id. Verr. 2, 2, 13.—Comp. and sup. are not used. —Advv. (only in posit.). a. Form alter-nē, alternately, only in Sen. Q. N. 7, 12 med. —b. Form alternìs (abl. plur.; sc. vicibus), alternately, by turns (poet. and prose; freq. in Lucr.; not in Cic.), Lucr. 1, 524; 1, 768; 1, 1011; 1, 1066; 3, 373; 4, 790; 6, 570; Varr. R. R. 3, 16, 9; Verg. E. 3, 59; id. G. 1, 71; 1, 79; Liv. 2, 2 med.; Sen. Ep. 120 fin.; Plin. Ep. 18, 2.— c. Form alternă, neutr. plur., Plin. 11, 37, 51, 138 Jan; App. M. 10, p. 247, 8 Elm.