paro

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpa.roː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpaː.ro]^[1]

Forms

parō (present infinitive parāre, perfect active parāvī, supine parātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is usually explained as a verb made from a noun Proto-Italic *paro-, from Proto-Indo-European *pr̥h₃-o- (“providing”), of the root *perh₃- (“to grant”).^[2][1] Rix derived it instead from a present *pr̥h₃-ye-, as the LIV does, but de Vaan objects that this would have given a different Latin form.^[2] The TLL and the OLD link it with pariō “to bring forth”, a pairing like occupō beside capiō.^[3][4]

Cognate with Old Irish ernaid (“grants”), Sanskrit पृणाति (pṛṇā́ti, “gives, grants”) and Ancient Greek ἔπορον (époron, “I gave”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards,^[2] as when a character orders “that whatever is needed be got ready”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to provide, furnish or make ready, to produce or bring about, and to get or acquire something, such as friends or a mistress.^[4] It was also used for buying, as a farm or a slave, and for raising troops.^[4]

Cato and Caesar used it of an army made ready for battle, and it was used for preparing a war, a flight or an attack, and so for planning or intending, as in Plautus' “my father is planning exile for me”.^[4] Medieval Latin also used it for adorning and for learning by heart.^[1] English took pare from French parer, “to arrange, prepare; to trim”, and parry from the fencing call parez!.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for getting things ready and for buying.^[4][6]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it for making friends.^[4][6]
• 234–149 BC – Cato writes of an army fed, prepared and encouraged.^[4][6]
• c. 1300 – English pare is first recorded.^[5]
• mid-15th century – English prepare comes from its compound praeparare.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To provide, furnish, make available.^[4][1]
2. To produce, bring about.^[4]
3. To get, obtain, acquire; to buy.^[4][1]
4. To raise (troops).^[4]
5. To make ready, prepare (for action).^[4][7]
6. To prepare (a war, an attack).^[4]
7. To plan, intend.^[4][1]
8. (Medieval Latin) To adorn; to learn by heart.^[1]

Word family

• apparō
• comparō
• imparātus
• parābilis
• parārius
• parātiō
• parātūra
• parātus
• parilis
• paritō
• praeparō
• reparō

Related words

• imperātor
• imperiōsus
• imperium
• properātim
• properiter
• properō
• properus
• pariō
• pauper
• English prepare
• English pare
• English parry

Usage notes

Two other words are spelled the same: parō “to make equal”, from pār, used by Plautus,^[7][8] and parō, parōnis, a small light boat, from Greek, in a line of Cicero quoted by Isidore and in Gellius.^[7][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn