Etymologically
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praepedio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [prae̯ˈpɛ.di.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [preˈpɛː.di.o][1]

Forms

praepediō (present infinitive praepedīre, perfect active praepedīvī, supine praepedītum); fourth conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is formed from prae- (“before”) and the stem ⟨-pediō⟩ of impediō (“to entangle, hinder”), made from pēs (“foot”).[2][1] The TLL compares compediō, expediō and impediō, though it finds their formation not entirely clear.[3] Lewis & Short derived it from praepes (“swift”).[4] De Vaan traces pēs to Proto-Italic *pōd- and Proto-Indo-European *pōd-s (“foot”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it first: in the Poenulus someone is shackled around the sides with strong iron,[4] and in the Casina fear hampers the words of the tongue.[4]

Semantic evolution

It means to bind or fetter by an extremity: Tacitus has the Numidians' horses tethered.[2][4] Lewis & Short call it mostly poetic and post-Augustan.[4] Usually it is figurative, to hinder or impede: Livy lets soldiers hamper themselves with booty without limit,[2][4] Ovid has sobs breaking off the middle of his words, Lucretius hampered legs, and Pliny the Younger people hindered by rivers, snow or winds.[4] Cicero and Tacitus use it of someone prevented by illness.[4] Stelten gives "shackle, fetter, obstruct, impede, hinder" for Church Latin.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of shackles and of fear that hampers speech.[4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of someone prevented by illness.[4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of soldiers hampered by booty.[2][4]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of tethered horses.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To bind, fetter, shackle (by the feet or another extremity).[2][4][1]
  2. To hinder, obstruct, impede.[2][4][6][1]

Word family

  • impraepeditus
  • praepedīmentum

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson