Etymologically
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praedives

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [prae̯ˈdiː.wɛs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [preˈdiː.ves][1]

Forms

praedīves (genitive praedīvitis); third-declension one-termination adjective (non-i-stem)[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prae- + dīves (“rich”).[2][3][1] De Vaan thinks dīves was probably derived from dīvus (“divine”), meaning “who is like, or protected by, the gods”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Virgil, Ovid and Livy on,[3] and Virgil speaks in the Aeneid of the city of very rich Latinus: praedīvitis urbe Latīnī.[3] Servius remarks on that line that the epithet, in the Greek manner, is out of place in a passage about mourning.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means very rich, of people: Livy calls Spurius Maelius very wealthy for those times,[3] and Tacitus pairs it with praepotēns.[5][6] Juvenal speaks of the gardens of the very rich Seneca.[5] Of things it means richly stocked or abundant, as when Ovid's nymph carries autumn in the plentiful horn.[2][5] Cicero has perdīves instead,[3] and the word has no comparative or superlative.[3]

British medieval writers used it of rich people, of Christ, and as a noun for a very rich man, and of places and churches richly endowed.[7]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of King Latinus.[3][8]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of wealthy Romans.[3][8]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a horn of plenty.[2][8]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus pairs it with praepotēns.[5][8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Very rich, wealthy.[2][5]
  2. Of things, richly supplied, abundant.[2][5]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Of places or churches, richly endowed.[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 h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  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. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de