Etymologically
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praecingo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [prae̯ˈkɪŋ.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [preˈt͡ʃiŋ.ɡo][1]

Forms

praecingō (present infinitive praecingere, perfect active praecīnxī, supine praecīnctum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prae- + cingō (“to gird”).[2][1][3] De Vaan calls the origin of cingō uncertain: he sets up Proto-Italic *keng- and finds no convincing outside cognate.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus.[4] In the OLD's earliest quotation Plautus has a boy sitting in a chair at school girt with a little belt.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is to encircle with a belt, gird, mostly in the passive; to be girt up meant one's clothes were tied up for action, as in Plautus.[2][6] The TLL counts one or two uses each in Plautus, Ennius, Varro, Cicero, Horace and Propertius, and nine in Ovid.[3] It is also to surround like a band: Manilius has signs that circle the middle of the sky.[2] Propertius has Tatius surrounding a spring with a maple palisade.[2] Martial has ego tē praecingere possum, I can gird you.[6] Church Latin glosses it to gird.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a boy girt with a belt.[2][4][5]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of a spring ringed with a palisade.[2][5]
  • 1st century AD – Manilius of signs circling the sky.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To gird, encircle with a belt; in the passive, to have one's clothes girt up.[2][6][1][7]
  2. To surround like a band, encircle.[2][1]
  3. To surround with a border, encompass.[2]

Word family

  • praecinctiō
  • praecinctorium
  • praecinctūra
  • praecinctus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson