praeceptio

Forms

praeceptiō f (genitive praeceptiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin praecipiō (“to take beforehand; to instruct”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first examples are from the Rhetorica ad Herennium, where it means the teaching of rules and a practical rule.^[2] The TLL also cites Cicero's De inventione,^[3] and Köbler's earliest author is Cicero.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Besides instruction in rules, Cicero uses it in the Partitiones oratoriae for a preconceived idea, the notion of a word that listeners already have in their minds.^[2] The jurists gave it a technical sense: the receiving of a legacy in advance, before the estate is divided, and the right to receive it so, in the phrase per praeceptionem legare.^[2][5] The TLL finds the general sense again from Arnobius on.^[3] Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for a precept, injunction or rule.^[6]

In medieval Latin it became an order or edict, and in particular a royal rescript, a papal mandate or a royal charter.^[7][4] British sources use it for teaching or instruction.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for a preconceived idea.^[2][4]
• 140–180 AD – Gaius uses per praeceptionem legare of a legacy taken in advance.^[5][4]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it in the same legal sense.^[5][4]
• 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it in the general sense.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The teaching of rules, instruction.^[2][8]
2. A practical rule, a precept.^[2][6]
3. A preconception, an idea already held.^[2][1]
4. (law) The receiving of a legacy in advance, before the estate is divided; the right to receive it so.^[2][5]
5. (Medieval Latin) An order, command or edict; a royal rescript, a papal mandate, a royal charter.^[7]

Related words

• praecipiō
• praeceptum
• praeceptor

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b 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