accuro

Forms

accūrō (present infinitive accūrāre, perfect active accūrāvī, supine accūrātum); first conjugation^[1] It is also spelt adcūrō.^[2][3] Plautus has the archaic future perfect accūrāssis and the passive infinitive accūrārier.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + cūrō (“to care for”).^[2][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of cūra (“care”),^[5] which goes back to Proto-Italic *kʷois-ā- (“care, watch”); he connects this, with some hesitation, with Proto-Indo-European *kʷei-s- (“to heed”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,^[5] meaning “to do something with care”: in the Bacchides a character promises meum pensum ego lepide accūrābō, “I'll do my task nicely”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Plautus and Terence it is very common, with an object, with ut or nē (“to see to it that”), and of preparing a meal;^[2][3] Plautus also uses it of looking after arriving guests.^[2][3] Classical prose uses the finite verb rarely, although the participle accūrātus “careful, elaborate” is frequent in Cicero.^[3] Cicero has it in the De inventione of things that are better managed with forethought, and the Historia Augusta of grooming a beard.^[3][4]

In medieval German sources it means to prepare or adorn something, for instance a royal funeral, and also to arrange or administer.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for doing a task carefully and for attending to guests.^[2][7]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it with ut and nē.^[3][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of matters managed with forethought.^[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give attention to, to do something with care.^[2][3]
2. To see to it (that), with ut, nē or the subjunctive.^[2][8]
3. To take care of the provision of (a meal).^[2][4]
4. To attend to (guests), to entertain.^[2][4]
5. (Medieval Latin) To prepare, adorn; to arrange, administer.^[6]

Word family

• accūrātiō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.