praecessio

Forms

praecessiō f (genitive praecessiōnis); third declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin praecēdō (“to go before”),^[3][1][4] built on the stem of its past participle.^[5] De Vaan traces the simple verb cēdō¹ to Proto-Italic *kesd-e/o- (“to go away, avoid”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Chalcidius' commentary on the Timaeus, of the planets: stationum praecessionumque et regradationum planetarum, “of the stations, advances and retrogradations of the planets”.^[3][1][4]

Semantic evolution

The TLL defines it as the act of going before, or what goes before, in time, in place or figuratively.^[3] Augustine uses it in his sermons of the evangelists Matthew and John going before Mark and Luke, and of Christ the head going before his members;^[3][2] Boethius uses it of priority in time.^[1]

Medieval British writers used it in astronomy for a planet's forward motion, for a procession (also of the Rogation litanies), and for precedence in time or order.^[7] English precession, from the 1590s, was first used of the equinoxes.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 300 AD – Chalcidius uses it of the forward motion of the planets.^[3][1][4]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it in his sermons of going before.^[3][4]
• 1590s – English borrows it as precession.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A going before, preceding, in time or place.^[3][1][2]
2. (astronomy) The forward motion of a planet.^[3][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) A procession.^[7]
4. (Medieval Latin) Precedence in time or order.^[7]

Related words

• English precession

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
2. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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