Etymologically
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praeduco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [prae̯ˈduː.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [preˈduː.ko][1]

Forms

praedūcō (present infinitive praedūcere, perfect active praedūxī, supine praeductum); third conjugation, irregular short imperative[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prae- + dūcō (“to lead, draw”).[2][3][1] dūcō goes back to Proto-Italic *douk-e- and Proto-Indo-European *deuk-e/o- (“to draw”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Caesar's Gallic War, of a wall of large stones that the Gauls had built in front to slow the Roman attack.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Caesar also uses it of ditches dug across roads,[5][6] and Tibullus of a ditch drawn in front of a camp.[5][6] Lucan has it of a flank covered by cavalry led round in front.[2] Pliny the Elder uses it of lines drawn with silver, copper or lead, and of lines marked out to plan the route of an aqueduct.[2][6] Lewis and Short note that Cicero does not use it.[5] In manuscripts it is often confused with prōdūcō.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of a wall and of ditches built in front.[2][5][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of drawing lines.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To build (a wall, a ditch) along a line in front.[2][5]
  2. To lead across or place in front.[2]
  3. To draw out (a line); to mark out (a route).[2][6]

Word family

  • praeductōrius

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de