improviso

Forms

imprōvīsō (adverb)^[1] It is also spelled inprōvīsō.^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin imprōvīsus (“unforeseen”) + -ō.^[1][2] imprōvīsus is the negative of the participle of prōvideō (“to foresee”),^[1] a compound of videō (“to see”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *wid-ē- and Proto-Indo-European *uid-eh1- (“to see”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,^[2] whose Rudens has a man say that he unexpectedly found his daughter: improviso filiam inveni.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It means unexpectedly, without warning, suddenly:^[1][4] Plautus' Asinaria has so much good come unexpectedly, Cicero writes of coming upon a man unexpectedly and of men bursting into a camp, and Caesar and Livy also use it.^[4][6] Lucilius has it too.^[6] Beside it stand the phrases ex imprōvīsō and dē imprōvīsō, with the same meaning.^[1] In Church Latin it means suddenly, unawares.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of finding a daughter unexpectedly.^[4][5][2]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of coming upon a man unexpectedly.^[4][6][2]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar.^[6][2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Unexpectedly, without warning, suddenly.^[1][4][7]

Related words

• imprōvīsus
• prōvideō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson