curatus

Forms

cūrātus (feminine cūrāta, neuter cūrātum; comparative cūrātior, superlative cūrātissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin cūrō (“to take care of”).^[1][2] The verb is formed from cūra (“care”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *kwois-ā- (“care, watch”) and Proto-Indo-European *kwei-s- (“to heed”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato uses the comparative of oxen that will be in better condition, corpore cūrātiōrēs, if they are well looked after.^[1][4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective meant “well looked after”, “carefully prepared”, as Celsus says of suet cleaned of its membranes, and in Tacitus “anxious, earnest”, of urgent prayers.^[1]

In medieval Latin it described an ecclesiastical office that carried the spiritual care of a parish,^[5] and the masculine became a noun for a monk in charge of a priory or office and for a priest in charge of a parish, a curate.^[5][4] Köbler's first source for the noun is Ekkehard IV.^[4] Du Cange quotes it from Thomas Walsingham and a charter of King John of France of 1363,^[6] and British sources use it for the cure of souls.^[7]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses the comparative of well-tended oxen.^[1][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses the superlative of earnest prayers.^[1][4]
• c. 1047–1053 – Köbler's earliest record of the noun is in Ekkehard IV.^[4]
• 1363 – A charter of King John of France calls the bishop of Paris quasi cūrātus of the French kings.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Well looked after, tended.^[1]
2. Carefully prepared.^[1]
3. Anxious, solicitous, earnest.^[1]
4. (Medieval Latin) Of an ecclesiastical office: carrying the spiritual care of a parish.^[5]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A monk in charge of an office or dependent house.^[5]
2. (Medieval Latin) A priest with the care of a parish, a curate.^[5][8][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
7. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson