praesagus

Forms

praesāgus (feminine praesāga, neuter praesāgum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prae- (“before”) + sāgus (“prophetic, prescient”).^[2][1] De Vaan notes that the simple sāgus appears only from Statius on, while the verb praesāgiō (“to foresee”) is found from Plautus; he reconstructs Proto-Italic *sāg-ije/o- (“to seek, perceive”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *seh2ǵ-i- (“tracking”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Virgil's Aeneid,^[4] in the phrase “praesaga mali mens”, a mind foreboding evil, and of the fires of a lightning flash that foretell what is to come.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It belonged to poetry and post-Augustan prose:^[5] it meant either feeling a presentiment, of the heart or mind, or portending and ominous, of signs, words, stars and oracles.^[2] Ovid, Lucan, Statius and Silius use it in both senses, and Tacitus speaks of ominous responses.^[2] The Vulgate speaks of a dream that foretold the future,^[5] and Chalcidius used praesāgus as a noun, a prophet.^[6][4]

Medieval writers kept it for a mind with a foreboding, and British sources also used it for one who imparts foreknowledge and, as a noun, for a prognosticator.^[7]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil writes of a mind foreboding evil.^[2][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of foreboding hearts and ominous words.^[2][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus speaks of ominous oracular responses.^[2][4]
• c. 300 AD – Chalcidius uses it as a noun for a prophet.^[6][4]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm writes of the foreboding heart of a seer.^[7][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Feeling a presentiment, having a foreboding.^[2][5]
2. Foretelling, portentous, ominous, prophetic.^[2][5]

Noun

1. (Late Latin) A prophet, one who foretells.^[6][7]

Word family

• praesāgō

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ 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 g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ 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