deprecor

Forms

dēprecor (present infinitive dēprecārī, perfect active dēprecātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^[1] An active form dēprecō appears in glosses, and Apuleius has its participle in a passive sense.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin dē- + precor (“to pray”), literally “to pray away”.^[3][1][2][4] ⟨Precor⟩ comes from prex (“prayer”), from Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- (“to ask”), cognate with Sanskrit पृच्छति (pṛcchati, “asks”) and Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌷𐌽𐌰𐌽 (fraihnan, “to ask”).^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius, in a tragedy, has a speaker who will spare his own life pray that death fall on his enemy.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It is to try to avert something by prayer, to beg off, and as a polite refusal to beg to be excused: Ovid's Sun asks the one thing it would avoid, a punishment rather than an honour.^[3] In a letter of Brutus it is to disapprove of.^[3] It is to beg to be let off the results of a deed, as Tacitus' men surrounding Claudius beg pardon for the past.^[3] It is to entreat someone, to pray for something (Cicero: I never asked anything for myself), to beg mercy for a person or oneself (arma dēpōnat, roget, dēprecētur, “let him lay down arms, ask, beg mercy”), and in Apuleius to call down curses.^[3]

Church Latin glosses it “entreat, pray, supplicate”.^[6] English deprecate (1620s), first “to pray against”, comes from its past participle.^[4]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius of praying death onto an enemy.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of entreating and begging mercy.^[3][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of begging to be excused.^[3][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of begging pardon.^[3][5]
• 1620s – English deprecate.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To try to avert by prayer; to beg to be excused, decline; to deprecate.^[3][1]
2. To beg pardon for (a deed).^[3]
3. To entreat, intercede with; to pray for.^[3][1][6]
4. To beg mercy (for oneself or another).^[3]
5. To call down (curses).^[3]

Word family

• dēprecābilis
• dēprecābundus
• dēprecāneus
• dēprecātiō
• dēprecātīvus

Related words

• dēprecātiuncula
• dēprecātōrius
• dēprecātrīx
• precor
• prex
• English deprecate

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson