Etymologically
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praes

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈprae̯s][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈprɛs][1]

Forms

praes m (genitive praedis); third declension[1] An inscription has the nominative singular praees.[2] The old nominative plural praevidēs is in an inscription.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a compound of prae- (“before”) and vas (“surety”), as the OLD and Wiktionary have it.[2][1][4] The TLL takes the old form ⟨praevid-⟩ as proof that it belongs with vas, but says that how it was formed is not quite clear.[5] Leumann explained it from an accusative ⟨*prai-widem⟩ from ⟨*prae-wad-em⟩, and de Vaan traces vas to Proto-Italic *woss and a root noun Proto-Indo-European *uodʰ-s (“one who leads the defendant to court”), with cognates such as Lithuanian vãdas (“guarantee, surety”).[3] Varro derived it from praestō (“to vouch for”).[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus;[3][6] the TLL cites the Menaechmi.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is a person who gives security for payment or for the fulfilment of a contract;[2] Lewis & Short note it is used in money matters, while vas is a surety in general,[4] and Döderlein says praes guarantees a claim of the state, vas a party's appearance in court.[7] In the phrase praedēs praediaque guarantors and their land together are the security, as in an inscription with the plural praevidēs.[2][3] Figuratively it is a guarantee: in Curtius Rufus a speaker calls his soldiers' courage his surety for what he is about to do.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.[5][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro derives it from praestāre.[4]
  • 1st century AD – Curtius Rufus of courage as a guarantee.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A surety, bondsman (for a payment or contract, especially to the state); praedēs praediaque, guarantors and their property.[2][4][1]
  2. (figurative) A guarantee.[2]

Word family

  • compraes

Usage notes

Plautus has a separate adverb praes, "at hand, ready", made from prae: in the Persa something is ready for you there.[4][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper