practicus

Forms

prācticus (feminine prāctica, neuter prācticum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] The TLL notes that the word never became fully Latin: manuscripts often write it in Greek letters with Greek endings, and only the feminine singular occurs in Latin form, besides one neuter in an inscription.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πρακτικός (praktikós, “active, effective”),^[3][2][1] from πράσσω (prássō, “to do”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Fulgentius speaks of the vīta practica, the active life, as opposed to the contemplative one;^[4][5][6] the OLD's only citation, an inscription, uses it of “effective” proof.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it means “active, effective”, of a life or discipline turned towards action,^[2][4] and Boethius uses the feminine.^[2]

Medieval writers set it against contemplative and speculative: Aldhelm speaks of leading the contemplative life before the practical one,^[7] Thomas Aquinas uses it of what is directed to action,^[8] and Roger Bacon of applied sciences such as practical alchemy and astrology.^[7] It also became a noun, “practitioner, lawyer”, from about 1180.^[6] In Neo-Latin it means “experienced, skilled”, as of a painter learned in his art (1470).^[9]

Etymonline traces English practice to Medieval Latin practicō, from this adjective, and practicum (1904) to its neuter.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 500 AD – Fulgentius: the active life.^[4][6]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm: the practical life.^[7][6]
• c. 1180 – A noun “practitioner, lawyer”.^[6]
• 1470 – A contract calls a painter praticus “experienced” in his art.^[9]
• 1904 – English practicum.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. effective.^[3]
2. (Late Latin) active, practical, concerned with action (opposed to the contemplative).^[4][5][11]
3. (Medieval Latin) practical, applied (opposed to speculative).^[7][12][8]
4. (New Latin) experienced, skilled.^[9]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A practitioner; a lawyer.^[6]

Related words

• English practice
• English practicum

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d 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
8. ^ a b Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
9. ^ a b c Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
12. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill