praecipitium

Forms

praecipitium n (genitive praecipitiī or praecipitī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin praeceps (“headlong, steep”) + -ium, from its oblique stem praecipit-.^[2][1][3] Lewis & Short derive it from the verb praecipitō.^[4] Praeceps is from prae- and caput “head”.^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Seneca the Elder uses it of a steep place, and Köbler dates the younger Seneca 4 BC–65 AD.^[6][7] Suetonius, in his life of Augustus, has someone pushed over a precipice.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

The OLD defines it as a fall or leap from a great height, as in Pliny the Elder.^[2][8] It was a steep place, a precipice, and Lewis & Short call it post-Augustan.^[4][6] Lactantius and Orosius use it of a headlong fall, and Orosius of a voluntary one.^[6] The Vulgate uses it in Judith, and figuratively it was a dangerous path.^[4]

In medieval Latin it was a fall, and throwing from a height as a way of killing.^[9] English precipice came through French in the 1630s.^[5]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of falls.^[8][7]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of a precipice.^[4][7]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius uses it of a headlong fall.^[6][7]
• 1630s – English precipice is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fall or leap from a height.^[2][6]
2. A steep place, precipice.^[4][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) Throwing from a height as an execution.^[9]

Related words

• praeceps
• English precipice
• English precipitate

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ 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