Etymologically
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praecipuus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [prae̯ˈkɪ.pu.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [preˈt͡ʃiː.pu.us][1]

Forms

praecipuus (feminine praecipua, neuter praecipuum, adverb praecipuē); first/second-declension adjective[1] Inscriptions also spell it precipuus.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from prae- (“before”) and capiō (“to take”) with the suffix -uus, “taken first, before the others”.[3][2][4][1] Paulus' epitome of Festus explains ⟨praecipuum⟩ as what is taken beforehand.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,[5] who has hancine ego partem capiō ob pietātem praecipuam?, “is this the reward I get for my outstanding piety?”.[3]

Semantic evolution

Praecipuus is what belongs to one person or thing to the exclusion of others, “particular, special” (Terence: one thing I think I have beyond the others).[3][4][1] From this it means “surpassing all others, outstanding, exceptional”, and “foremost, chief, most important” (Cicero: were my part in that cause not the chief one?).[3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “special, extraordinary”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: ob pietātem praecipuam.[3][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence: praeter aliōs praecipuam.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: meae partēs … nōn praecipuae.[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Particular, special, peculiar (to one).[3][4][1][6]
  2. Outstanding, exceptional, distinguished.[3][1]
  3. Foremost, chief, principal.[3][1]

References

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