praepes

Forms

praepes (genitive praepetis); third-declension one-termination adjective (non-i-stem)^[1] As a noun it is usually feminine, sometimes masculine.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin prae- (“before, ahead”) + petō (“to make for, seek”),^[2][4][1] from a form ⟨*prae-pets⟩.^[2] The TLL notes that the origin of this term of augural language was already obscure to the Romans, although the ancient grammarians often connected it with petō.^[5] De Vaan derives that verb from a root meaning “to fly”, assuming a shift of sense from “fly” to “fly towards, try to reach”, and compares Ancient Greek πέτομαι (pétomai, “to fly”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Ennius,^[4][2] who uses it in the language of augury of a bird that flies straight ahead: pulcherruma praepes laeva volavit avis, “a most beautiful bird flew ahead on the left”.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Such a bird gave a good omen, so the word also meant favourable, and Ennius applies it to places in the sky where the flight is observed.^[2][3] Outside augury it describes the swift movement of anything that flies: Ennius already speaks of weapons with swift iron (praepete ferrō),^[2][7] and Virgil has praepetibus pinnīs, “on swift wings”.^[6][7] Statius extends it to swift movement over the ground, and it was also applied to a metrical foot.^[2]

As a noun it meant the bird of good omen, as in Livy,^[2] then any bird, as in Ovid's Iovis praepes for the eagle, and any winged being, such as Pegasus.^[2][3] Medieval writers kept the augural term: Albericus of London divides birds of omen into those that foretell by song and the praepetēs that signify by their flight.^[8]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of an augural bird and of swift weapons.^[2][9]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil writes of “swift wings”.^[6][7][9]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it as a noun for the bird of omen.^[2][9]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid calls the eagle the praepes of Jupiter.^[2][9]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of swift movement over the ground.^[2][9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (augury) Of a bird: flying straight ahead, and so giving a good omen; of a place or quarter of the sky: auspicious, favourable.^[2][3][8]
2. Swift, flying, winged;^[2][6][7] (poetic) moving swiftly over the ground.^[2][6][7]

Noun

1. (augury) A bird flying ahead as a good omen.^[2]
2. A bird; any winged creature.^[2][3]

Related words

• petō
• impetus
• perpes

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de