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praepotens

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word praepotens

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Latin (potēns)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin potens
Latin praepotens
Latin omnipotens
Latin armipotens

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈprae̯.pɔ.tẽːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈprɛː.po.tens][1]

Forms

praepotēns (genitive praepotentis); third-declension one-termination adjective[1] The genitive plural is praepotentium from Cicero on, and praepotentum in Seneca.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin prae- + potēns (“powerful”).[4][2][1] Lewis & Short take it as the participle of praepossum (“to be more powerful”).[3] De Vaan derives potēns from Proto-Italic *pot-ē- (“to be master”), made from Proto-Indo-European *pót-i- (“master, lord”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero.[6] The TLL finds it once each in the poetry of Plautus and Accius, and in prose from Cicero on.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means outstandingly powerful, superior to others in power:[4] Cicero writes of famous and very powerful men, of Jupiter all-powerful over all things, and of Carthage powerful on land and sea.[3] He also uses it of abstract things, of powerful and glorious philosophy.[4][3] As a plural noun, praepotentēs are the powerful, as in Cicero, Columella and Pliny the Elder.[3] Pliny also has praepotentēs opibus, "very rich", and Valerius Maximus a most powerful impulse of gratitude.[3][4] Prudentius uses it four times.[2] Stelten glosses it "mighty".[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, in a doubtful passage.[2][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of powerful men and of Carthage.[3][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy.[2]
  • 1st century AD – Columella of the powerful.[3]
  • 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Very powerful, superior in power, mighty.[4][3][1][7]

Noun

  1. (plural) The powerful.[3]

Word family

  • praepotentia

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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 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

“Praepotens.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/praepotens. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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