Etymologically
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praegnans

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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]

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