praedictio

Forms

praedictiō f (genitive praedictiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin praedīcō² (“to foretell”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3] Manuscripts often confuse it with praedicātiō “proclamation”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero is the first to use it, and uses it often, of the foretelling of the future: he says that Epicurus mocks nothing so much as praedictiōnem rērum futūrārum, “the prediction of things to come”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In Cicero's works on religion it covers prophecy, divination and astrology,^[3][5] and the plural is used of the predictions of seers.^[5] Quintilian uses it in rhetoric of a remark made in advance, a forewarning of what the speaker is about to say.^[2][5] Suetonius has it of predictions about Tiberius,^[5] and Boethius uses it in logic of a statement about what will happen.^[3] Church writers used it often of prophecy.^[3][6]

In British Medieval Latin it could also mean a proclaiming.^[7] English took prediction in the 1560s, from French and directly from Medieval Latin.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the prediction of the future.^[3][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of a forewarning in a speech.^[2][4]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses the plural of predictions.^[5][4]
• 1322 – The Annals of St Paul's use it of the proclaiming of a peace.^[7]
• 1560s – English borrows prediction.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (rhetoric) A statement made in advance, previous notice.^[2][5]
2. A prediction, prophecy.^[2][5][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A proclaiming.^[7]

References

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