praedo

Forms

praedō m (genitive praedōnis); third declension^[1] The final -o of the nominative is short in Lucan and Valerius Flaccus, long in Claudian.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin praeda (“booty”) + -ō, as Isidore also saw.^[3][2] De Vaan treats ⟨praeda⟩ under prehendō: it is usually explained as ⟨*prai-χed-ā-⟩ “what one acquires”, but Livingston argues for an o-grade noun, ⟨*prai-χod-ā-⟩; the root is Proto-Italic ⟨*χend-⟩ “to seize”, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰend- (“to grab”), cognate with Ancient Greek χανδάνω (khandánō, “to grab”) and Gothic 𐌳𐌿𐌲𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (duginnan, “to begin”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Pseudolus: ita in aedibus sunt fūrēs, praedō in proximōst, “there are thieves in the house, and a robber next door”.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

A praedō is one who lives by plunder, a brigand, and at sea a pirate: Cicero accuses Verres of letting pirate chiefs go for money.^[3][5] Plautus already uses it as a term of abuse beside scelestī and rapācēs.^[3] In Roman law it is someone who takes possession of property knowing it is not his, as opposed to the possessor in good faith (Gaius).^[3] Lewis & Short give latrō and raptor as synonyms.^[5] Augustine plays on it: nē, cum vīs esse praedō, sīs praeda, “lest, wanting to be the robber, you become the prey”.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “robber, plunderer”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a robber and as abuse.^[3][5][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of pirate chiefs.^[3][7]
• 140–180 AD – The jurist Gaius of a possessor in bad faith.^[3][7]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine: nē … sīs praeda.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A robber, brigand, plunderer; a pirate.^[3][1][6]
2. (law) One who takes possession in bad faith.^[3]

Word family

• praedōnius
• praedōnulus

Related words

• praeda
• praedor
• prehendō

Usage notes

Praedō is also an active form of the verb praedor, “to plunder”.^[1][5] The TLL records a separate, rare verb praedō “to give beforehand”, from prae- and dō, in Caelius Aurelianus.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b 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 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de