Etymologically
Log in

praecisus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 23 October 2026 at 04:06. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

praecīsus (feminine praecīsa, neuter praecīsum); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin praecīdō (“to cut off in front, cut short”), its perfect passive participle used as an adjective.[1][3][2] The verb is a compound of prae- (“before, in front”) and caedō (“to cut”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in a tragedy of Accius, of a sheer mountain ridge (praecisum iugum).[1]

Semantic evolution

Sallust and Virgil use it of steep, broken ground and of rock,[2][5] and Quintilian of cliffs.[2][6] Manilius has it in the literal sense “cut off, separated” from Italy,[6] and Seneca uses praecisi as a noun for eunuchs.[6] In rhetoric it described speech or a narration cut short, and clipped, staccato words or rhythm, as in Cicero's De Oratore and in Quintilian.[1][2] Medieval Latin kept “sheer” (of the gorge at Cheddar)[7] and developed the sense “definite, exact”, found in Peckham, Bacon and Wyclif;[7] it could also mean “excommunicated”, cut off from the Church.[8] French précis[8] and Italian preciso come from it.[5]

Timeline

  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it of a sheer ridge.[1][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of clipped, staccato rhythm in prose.[1][2][8]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a sheer rock.[2][5]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses praecisi for eunuchs.[6]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of a curtailed narration.[1][2]
  • 1283 – Peckham uses it in a letter of an exact truth.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (of ground or rock) sheer, abrupt, precipitous.[1][2][5]
  2. Cut off, separated (from a place).[6]
  3. Castrated; as a noun, praecisī, eunuchs.[6]
  4. (rhetoric) Cut short, curtailed;[1][2][5] (of words or feet) clipped, staccato.[1][2][5]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Definite, exact, precise.[7]
  6. (Medieval Latin) Excommunicated.[8]

References

  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  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
  8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de