Etymologically
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praematurus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [prae̯.maːˈtuː.rʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [pre.maˈtuː.rus][1]

Forms

praemātūrus (feminine praemātūra, neuter praemātūrum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prae- (“before”) + mātūrus (“ripe, timely”).[2][3][1] De Vaan derives mātūrus from a noun Proto-Italic *mātu- (“ripeness”), Proto-Indo-European *meh2-tu- (“ripeness”), probably from the same root as mānus (“good”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records the adjective first in a letter of Plancus to Cicero, of a premature declaration, praematura denuntiatio, by an unprepared good citizen; the adverb praemātūrē is older and already in Plautus.[3][2][5]

Semantic evolution

Its two senses are ripened very or too early, and happening very or too early.[2] Columella speaks of the very early fruit of the cucumber,[2][5] and Pliny the Elder of training oxen at three years, later being too late and earlier too early.[3] Of things that happen before their time it is used of death, from Velleius and Pliny on,[3][5] of ashes in Juvenal,[5] and often in Tacitus, of an early winter, of honours that make young minds proud, and of a head disfigured by premature grey hair.[3][5] The TLL notes it is frequent in Tacitus and Ambrose[3] and has no comparative or superlative,[3] though the comparative of the adverb is in the Digest.[5] Church Latin glosses it eager, premature, too early.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the adverb praemātūrē.[5][3][7]
  • 1st century AD – Columella, of very early fruit.[2][7]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of early winter and premature honours.[3][7]
  • c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it often.[3][7]
  • 1520s – English premature takes its sense “done before the proper time”.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Ripening very early or too early; of a birth, premature.[2][5]
  2. Happening very or too early, untimely; very prompt.[2][5][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 g h i 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
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com