parens

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpa.rẽːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpaː.rens]^[1]

Forms

parēns m or f (genitive parentis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is apparently an old aorist participle of pariō “to bring forth”, from Proto-Italic *par-(e)nt-, from Proto-Indo-European *pérh₃-t, from Proto-Indo-European *perh₃- (“to produce, beget”); compare the regular present participle ⟨pariēns⟩.^[2][1][3] The genitive plural is ⟨parentum⟩, also ⟨parentium⟩.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of a parent.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a parent, father or mother, as Cicero's parēns tuus, and in the plural parents, also of animals and of trees.^[2][6] It meant an ancestor, and dīvī parentum the spirits of dead parents, as in Nepos.^[2] Parēns patriae “father of the country” was an honorific title, as in Cicero.^[2] It was used of a mother country or city, of the creative power of nature, the creator, and of the inventor of an art or the founder of a school, as in Cicero.^[2] Figuratively it meant a source or cause.^[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a parent.^[7] Medieval Latin used the plural of relatives, kin, and British Medieval Latin prīmī parentēs of Adam and Eve.^[8][9] It survives in Spanish pariente and Italian parente, and through Old French parent it gave English parent in the early 15th century; legal Latin in locō parentis is used in English from the 1640s.^[1][10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a parent.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses parēns patriae.^[2][5]
• c. 100–24 BC – Nepos uses dīvī parentum.^[2][5]
• early 15th century – English parent is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A parent, father or mother.^[2]
2. An ancestor, dīvī parentum, the spirits of dead parents.^[2]
3. parēns patriae, the father of one's country.^[2]
4. A mother country or city.^[2]
5. The creative power of nature; the creator.^[2]
6. An inventor, founder; an author.^[2]
7. A source, cause.^[2]
8. (Medieval Latin, plural) Relatives, kin.^[8]

Word family

• parentālis
• parentēla
• parenticīda
• parenticīdium
• parentō
• parentālia

Related words

• pariō
• pater
• māter
• English parent

Usage notes

Pārēns, with a long ā, is the participle of pāreō “to obey”, “obedient”, and as a noun in Sallust pārentēs are subjects.^[2][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com