praesagium

Forms

praesāgium n (genitive praesāgiī or praesāgī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin praesāgiō (“to have a presentiment”) according to the TLL;^[2] the OLD derives it from the adjective praesāgus (“foreboding”) with -ium.^[3][4] De Vaan notes that ⟨praesāgīre⟩ is recorded earlier than ⟨sāgīre⟩ “to perceive” and the adjective sāgus (“prophetic”), which may be back-formations from it, and he traces the verb to Proto-Italic *sāg-ije/o- (“to seek, perceive”) and the root Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g-.^[5] Cognate with Old Irish saigid (“to try to reach”), Hittite šāgāi- (“omen”), Ancient Greek ἡγέομαι (hēgéomai, “to lead”) and English seek.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Ovid,^[4] who has ne sperne meae praesagia linguae, “do not scorn the forewarnings of my tongue”.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan.^[7] It means both an inner foreboding, as in Ovid's praesāgia mentis, and an outward sign or prediction of what is coming:^[3][7][6] Tacitus writes of a girl already dead with the presentiment of evils,^[7] Columella of the signs of a coming storm,^[7] and Pliny the Elder of animals' power to sense winds, rain and storms in advance.^[6] Seneca the Elder uses it of forebodings and dreams.^[3] Medieval writers in Britain, from Bede on, used it of forebodings, prophecies and portents.^[8] English presage (late 14th century) and Italian presagio come from it.^[9][6]

Timeline

• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of forebodings and predictions.^[3][4]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of the signs of a storm.^[7][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of a presentiment of evil.^[7][4]
• 1st third of the 8th century – Bede uses it of a bishop's dire forebodings.^[8][4]
• late 14th century – English presage is formed from it.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A presentiment, foreboding.^[3][7][1]
2. A forewarning, presage, portent; a prediction.^[3][7][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) Foreknowledge, prophecy; divination.^[8]

Related words

• praesāgiō
• praesāgus
• sāgus
• sagāx
• English presage

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b 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 c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com