Etymologically
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practicus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpraːk.tɪ.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈprak.ti.kus][1]

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]

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