antecapio

Forms

antecapiō (present infinitive antecapere, perfect active antecēpī, supine anteceptum); third (-iō variant) conjugation^[1] The past participle is ⟨anteceptus⟩ in Cicero, the only author who weakens the vowel of the simple verb, and ⟨antecaptus⟩ elsewhere.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ante- (“before”) + capiō (“to take, seize”).^[3][1][2] De Vaan traces capiō to Proto-Italic *kap-i-, which he reconstructs as Proto-Indo-European *kh₂p-i- but also allows to be of non-Indo-European origin.^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek κάπτω (káptō, “to gulp down”) and κωπή (kōpḗ, “grip”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses the participle in De natura deorum, rendering Epicurus' πρόληψις (prólēpsis) as a notion of a thing grasped beforehand in the mind,^[3][5] which Lewis and Short take as an innate idea.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to seize or occupy beforehand.^[3][6] Sallust has Catiline's party seizing in advance things useful for war, and in the Jugurtha a legate sent ahead to occupy a place for the camp;^[3][7] Tacitus has a bridge over the Meuse taken beforehand,^[3][2] and Pacatus' panegyric a place seized in advance for war.^[2][6]

With animō it meant to anticipate in thought, as in Cicero.^[3][7] It also meant to act before, to forestall a time or state:^[3][6] Sallust writes that luxury anticipated hunger, thirst and cold instead of waiting for them, of acting before nightfall, and of forestalling the arrival of envoys.^[3][7] Apuleius uses it of a thought guessed and anticipated.^[3]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a notion grasped beforehand in the mind.^[3][8]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of seizing things and places in advance.^[3][8]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of seizing a bridge beforehand.^[3][8]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of anticipating a thought.^[3][8]
• 389 AD – Pacatus uses it of seizing a place for war.^[2][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To seize or occupy beforehand.^[3][5]
2. (with animō) To anticipate in thought;^[3][7] (past participle) conceived beforehand, a priori.^[3][7]
3. To act before, forestall (a time or state); to anticipate (a plan).^[3][6]

Related words

• capiō
• anticipō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de