pacatus
Forms
pācātus (feminine pācāta, neuter pācātum, comparative pācātior, superlative pācātissimus); first/second-declension adjective, past participle of pācō[1][2]
Etymology
It is the past participle of pācō (“to pacify”), used as an adjective.[1][2] De Vaan derives ⟨pācō⟩ from pāx (“peace”), from Proto-Italic *pāk- (“agreement, peace”) and Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ- (“agreement”), cognate with Umbrian pase (“peace”) and Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (fāhan, “to catch”).[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[3] whose Menaechmi has a man protesting that he is being dragged off in broad daylight in a peaceful town.[1]
Semantic evolution
Of places and peoples it means “at peace, settled”, and of the air and sea “calm”, as in Lucretius.[1][2] Of persons it is “peaceable”, as Cicero's question whether someone is friend or enemy, and of speech and conduct “mild”.[1] It also means “of peacetime”: Cicero says no one could bear a man's wickedness even in peace.[1]
Church Latin glosses it “pacified, peaceful, peaceable, serene, quiet, calm”.[4]
Timeline
- c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a peaceful town.[1][3][5]
- 96–55 BC – Lucretius of calm air.[1][5]
- 81–43 BC – Cicero of peaceable men.[1][5]
Meanings
Adjective
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
- ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de