Etymologically
Log in

accuro

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 15:20. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [akˈkuː.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [akˈkuː.ro][1]

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.