Etymologically
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praescius

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈprae̯s.ki.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈprɛʃ.ʃi.us][1]

Forms

praescius (feminine praescia, neuter praescium); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prae- (“before”) + sciō (“to know”) + -us;[2] Wiktionary and Köbler analyse it instead with the adjective scius (“knowing”).[1][3] De Vaan takes sciō to be probably a back-formation from nesciō (“not to know”), and traces it to Proto-Italic *skije/o- (“to know”); if “to know” developed from “to distinguish, decide”, it may belong to Proto-Indo-European *skh₁-i(e/o)- (“to incise”).[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek σχάω (skháō, “to make an incision”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Virgil,[3] who calls a prophetess praescia ventūrī, “foreknowing what is to come”, and speaks of praescia corda, “foreboding hearts”.[5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan prose.[5] Ovid has praescia lingua, and Valerius Flaccus uses it of the voice of an oracle.[5] With a genitive it means knowing a thing in advance, and Tacitus has facere praescium, to inform someone beforehand.[5] The TLL records the spelling pre-.[6] In medieval British Latin it is used of God's foreknowledge, of foreknowledge of one's own death, and also with an infinitive.[7] Ecclesiastical Latin gives the senses foreboding and foreknowing.[8]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of a prophetess and of foreboding hearts.[5][3]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of a prophetic tongue.[5][3]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus, “to inform in advance”.[5][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Having foreknowledge, prescient, foreboding.[2][5][1][8]
  2. (with a genitive) Knowing beforehand (something).[5][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b 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
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson