praedatio

Forms

praedātiō f (genitive praedātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin praedor + -tiō, from the verb meaning to plunder.^[2][1] The verb comes from praeda (“booty”), which de Vaan treats under prehendō (“to seize”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Velleius Paterculus has it first: Sextus Pompeius infested the sea latrociniis ac praedationibus, with robberies and plundering raids.^[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

L&S call it post-Augustan.^[6] Frontinus, Tacitus and Ammianus use it of raids in war and of the incursions of barbarians;^[4][2] Paulus' epitome of Festus says the Ambrones began to live by plunder.^[4][2] It appears in Lactantius and in the Vulgate,^[6][4] and in the manuscripts of Lactantius it is confused with praedicatio.^[4]

Medieval writers kept the sense, and British sources also use it for the booty itself.^[7][8] English predation (late 15th century) comes from it; the zoological sense is from 1907.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius Paterculus speaks of robberies and plundering raids at sea.^[2][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of raids in Africa and of a kingdom grown by plunder.^[2][5]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius uses it.^[6][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has it in Isaiah and Judith.^[6][4][5]
• late 15th century – English borrows it as predation.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of plundering, depredation, a raid.^[2][6][4]
2. (Medieval Latin) Booty, spoils.^[7]

Related words

• praedo
• praedator
• English predation

References

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