praegnans

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈprae̯ŋ.nãːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈprɛɲ.ɲans]^[1]

Forms

praegnāns (genitive praegnantis); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from prae “before” and the root of ⟨gnāscor⟩, nāscor “to be born”, so “about to give birth”.^[2][3][4] Plautus, Fronto, Macrobius and Pliny have the collateral form ⟨praegnās⟩, ⟨-ātis⟩, which Etymonline calls the original form.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short cite Plautus' Truculentus for the form praegnās.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant with child, pregnant, as Cicero's uxor praegnāns, and of animals big with young, as Varro's sows and ewes and Pliny's mares.^[2][3] Paulus' epitome of Festus distinguishes gravida, already weighed down by the conception, praegnāns, occupied with producing, and incīēns, near birth.^[2] Pliny transfers it to plants, as buds swelling, surculī praegnātēs.^[2] Döderlein explains that praegnāns is pregnancy in general, gravidus that of human beings, fēta and inciēns that of animals.^[6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant pregnant, with child.^[7] English pregnant came in the early 15th century.^[5] It survives in Italian pregno and Portuguese prenhe.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has praegnās.^[2][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of animals.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a wife.^[2][3][4]
• early 15th century – English pregnant is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Pregnant, with child; of animals, big with young.^[2][3]
2. Of plants, swelling, full.^[2]

Related words

• nāscor
• gravidus
• English pregnant

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson