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praeposterus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word praeposterus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
96–55 BC, Lucretius
Ultimate origin
Latin (prae,posterus)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin posterus
Latin praeposterus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [prae̯ˈpɔs.tɛ.rʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [preˈpɔs.te.rus][1]

Forms

praeposterus (feminine praepostera, neuter praeposterum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prae- (“before”) + posterus (“coming after”).[2][3][1][4] Etymonline renders it literally as "before-behind".[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucretius has praeposterus ordo, a reversed order,[5] and Köbler dates it from Cicero.[6]

Semantic evolution

It means placed in the wrong order, inverted:[2][5] Cicero wants nothing in a speech to be confused, discordant or back to front.[2] It also means happening at the wrong time, unseasonable: Pliny the Elder has figs out of season and a birth feet first, and Seneca an unseasonable cold.[5][2] Of people and conduct it is wrong-headed or absurd: Cicero says a man was always perverse and preposterous, and asks what could be said or thought more perverse and preposterous.[2][5] Sallust and Pliny the Younger use it too.[5] The adverb praeposterē means in reverse order, as Cicero of delivering letters in reverse order.[5] Stelten glosses it "absurd, inverted, preposterous".[7] English borrowed it in the 1540s as preposterous.[4]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of a reversed order.[5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of wrong-headed people and of order in a speech.[2][5][6]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust of absurd men.[5]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of an unseasonable cold.[2][5]
  • 1540s – Borrowed into English as preposterous.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. In the wrong order, reversed, inverted.[2][5][1][7]
  2. Out of due time, unseasonable.[2][5]
  3. (of people or conduct) Wrong-headed, perverse, absurd, preposterous.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • praeposteritas

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Praeposterus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/praeposterus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·