praecipitatio

Forms

praecipitātiō f (genitive praecipitātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin praecipitō (“to throw headlong”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3] The verb comes from praeceps (“headlong”), from prae- and caput (“head”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first author to use it is Vitruvius,^[5][6][3] who warns that sand undermined by the waves will make a pier fall into the sea (efficiet in mare pilae praecipitationem).^[3]

Semantic evolution

Seneca uses it for a headlong fall, naming “poison, a fall and shipwreck” together,^[3][7] and for the rush of rivers.^[3][7] Lewis & Short also give it the sense of headlong hurry and rash haste.^[5]

In Christian Latin it came to mean ruin or destruction:^[8][7] Ambrose uses it figuratively of a downfall,^[9][7] and the Vulgate's Psalm 51 has verba praecipitationis, which Hilary of Poitiers explains through the Greek of the Psalm as words of plunging into the depths of the sea.^[3][5] In British Medieval Latin it is the act of casting down, as of the wicked into hell.^[10] English took the word in the late 15th century for a casting down, and the meteorological sense of rain or snow followed in the 1670s.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of a pier falling into the sea.^[3][6]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it for a headlong fall.^[3][7][6]
• c. 315–367/368 AD – Hilary of Poitiers comments on the Psalm's verba praecipitationis.^[3][6]
• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it figuratively for ruin.^[9][7][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has it in Psalm 51.^[5][6]
• late 15th century – English borrows it as precipitation, at first for a casting down.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A headlong fall or descent.^[2][5][9]
2. Headlong haste, rashness.^[5]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Ruin, destruction.^[8][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) The act of casting down or causing to fall.^[10]

Related words

• English precipitation

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
10. ^ 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