posco

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpɔs.koː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpɔs.ko]^[1]

Forms

poscō (present infinitive poscere, perfect active poposcī or peposcī); third conjugation, no supine stem^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *pork-ske/o-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *prḱ-sk-e/o- (“to keep asking”), a present in *-sk- of the root Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- (“to ask”).^[2][1] Cognate with Umbrian pepurkurent (“they will have demanded”), Sanskrit पृच्छति (pṛcchati, “asks”) and Old High German forskōn (“to search”).^[2][3][4] The same root is in prex “prayer”, precor “to pray” and procus “suitor”.^[3][4] Schrijver doubted whether the vowel is regular for *pr̥ksk-, since Oscan comparascuster may show *parksk-.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to ask for insistently or with authority, to demand, with a double accusative to demand something of someone, and to summon, as Virgil's suppliant who calls on the gods.^[3] Plautus uses it of asking a girl in marriage and of bidding at an auction.^[3] Of things it meant to require, as what the times of the republic demanded.^[3] Döderlein places poscere at the demanding end of a scale that runs through petō and rogō to ōrō, the humble request.^[6]

In medieval grammar it was used of a verb that requires a case.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of demanding food and of asking for a bride.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of what the times demanded.^[3][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of calling on the gods.^[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To ask for insistently, demand, call for.^[3]
2. To summon, call upon.^[3]
3. To ask (a woman) in marriage.^[3]
4. To bid for (at an auction).^[3]
5. To demand to know.^[3]
6. (Of things) to require, call for.^[3]

Word family

• apposcō
• dēposcō
• exposcō
• poscinummius
• reposcō
• posculentus

Related words

• postulō
• prex
• procus
• precor
• English postulate

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl