praelongus

Forms

praelongus (feminine praelonga, neuter praelongum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prae- + longus (“long”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces longus to Proto-Italic *(d)longo- and Proto-Indo-European *dlongh-o-, one of several variants of a word for “long” in the Indo-European languages.^[4]

Cognate with Old High German lang and Old Norse langr, both meaning “long”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Livy,^[5] who contrasts the very long swords of the Gauls with the short, handy ones of the Spaniards.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short note that it does not occur in Cicero or Caesar.^[6] It is used of weapons: Livy also speaks of very long spears, and Tacitus of a long spear and of the very long swords that the Sarmatians wield with both hands.^[3][6] Pliny the Elder uses it of a tail and of slenderness,^[6] and Quintilian of a very tall man.^[6][7] Of time it meant exceedingly long, as in Quintilian's very long conversations.^[2][7] It has no comparative or superlative, and in the manuscripts it is sometimes confused with perlongus.^[3]

Medieval writers still used it: Alcuin has a ship drawn by a very long towrope, and Gerald of Wales a goat with very long hair.^[8]

Timeline

• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of the swords of the Gauls.^[3][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a long tail.^[6][5]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of a very tall man and of long conversations.^[6][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of spears and swords.^[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Very long, exceptionally long.^[2][6][9]
2. Of people: very tall.^[2][7]
3. Of time: exceedingly long, prolix.^[2][7]

Related words

• longus
• perlongus

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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier