Etymologically
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praeoccupo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [prae̯ˈɔk.kʊ.poː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [preˈɔk.ku.po][1]

Forms

praeoccupō (present infinitive praeoccupāre, perfect active praeoccupāvī, supine praeoccupātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prae- + occupō (“to seize”).[2][1][3] De Vaan explains occupō as originally a denominal verb, belonging with capiō (“to take”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it in the Mostellaria, where the TLL notes the syllables ⟨-ae-oc-⟩ are run together in the metre.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It means to seize or occupy a position in advance: Nepos says Datames tried to occupy a pass first so that his enemy could not enter it, Caesar uses it of a route, and Livy of suitable places.[5] It is also to secure abstract things beforehand: in Livy some see that their colleagues have already won all the favour.[2] Of persons and minds it is to engage or possess beforehand: Caesar says fear had taken hold of the soldiers' minds, Petronius cheerfulness of minds, and Livy minds won over beforehand by a kindness.[5][2] It also means to forestall: Nepos says neither man should forestall the other while they feared each other,[2][5] and with an infinitive, to be the first to do something, as in Livy, where some hasten to bring in a law on fines themselves.[5] The Vulgate uses it of someone caught in a fault.[5] Lewis & Short note it is classical but not in Cicero.[5] Stelten gives "take by surprise, anticipate, prejudice, preoccupy" for Church Latin.[6] The English preoccupy dates from the 1560s.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in the Mostellaria.[2][3]
  • c. 100–24 BC – Nepos of occupying a pass and of forestalling.[5][2]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of fear seizing minds.[5][2]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of winning favour beforehand.[2]
  • 1560s – preoccupy appears in English.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To seize or occupy beforehand (a position); to secure in advance.[2][5][1]
  2. To engage or possess (a person, the mind) beforehand, preoccupy.[2][5][1]
  3. To anticipate, forestall;[2][5][1] (with infinitive) to be first to do.[2][5][1]
  4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To catch, take by surprise (in a fault).[5][6]

Word family

  • praeoccupātiō

References

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