Etymologically
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praemium

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈprae̯.mi.ũː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈprɛː.mi.um][1]

Forms

praemium n (genitive praemiī or praemī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from *prai-emiom, a compound of prae “before” and emō “to take, buy”, “what one has got before or better than others”.[2][3][1][4] Varro derived it from praeda “booty”.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Ennius, of a payment or inducement.[2] Köbler dates Ennius 204–169 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short take its first sense to be profit from booty, as in poetry, and the OLD has plunder, prize, from Plautus.[4][2] It meant a payment for a service, an inducement, sometimes practically a bribe, as in Ennius, and a reward for merit or hardship, a prize, as in Plautus.[2] In law it meant a privilege, a benefit, as in Cicero, and Virgil uses it ironically of punishment.[2] Lucretius has praemia vītae “the advantages of life”.[6] Döderlein explains that praemium is a prize of honour, opposed to poena.[7]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant reward, prize, recompense.[8] It survives in Italian and Spanish premio, and English premium came about 1600, first “a reward given for a specific act”.[1][9]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of a payment.[2][5]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a reward and of booty.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a legal privilege.[2][5]
  • c. 1600 – English premium is recorded.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A payment, inducement; a bribe.[2]
  2. A reward, prize.[2]
  3. A privilege, advantage.[2][6]
  4. Booty, plunder.[2]

Word family

  • praemiōsus

References

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