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praesentio

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word praesentio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*snt-ie/o-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin sentio
French sentir
French ressentir
French sentiment
Latin sensus
French sens
Latin sensim
Latin dissentio
Latin praesentio

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [prae̯ˈsɛn.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [preˈs̬ɛn.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

praesentiō (present infinitive praesentīre, perfect active praesēnsī, supine praesēnsum); fourth conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prae- + sentiō (“to feel, perceive”).[2][1][3] De Vaan traces sentiō to Proto-Italic *s(e)nt-ije/o- and Proto-Indo-European *snt-ie/o- (“to notice”), cognate with Lithuanian sintė́ti (“to think”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Plautus, Terence, Cicero, Lucretius, Caesar and Virgil on.[3] Plautus' Trinummus has “he would have done it, if the dogs had not sensed it beforehand”.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

With the senses it is to perceive beforehand: Terence has neither having sensed that the speaker was there, Lucretius a goose smelling a man from afar, and Apuleius smelling a familiar savour.[2][5] In the mind it is to have a presentiment: Cicero says that the mind would have no presentiment of the future, and that we sense beforehand, by a fixed notion of the mind, that god is such;[2] he uses it seventeen times in De divinatione.[3] Caesar has foreseeing and anticipating with the mind, Virgil the queen sensing deceit, Ovid a nurse sensing evil, Pliny the Elder an earthquake foretold, and Suetonius the outcome of wars.[2][5] Livy has an impersonal passive, “it was perceived”.[2][6] Church Latin has “feel beforehand, have a presentiment”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of dogs sensing a man.[2][8]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence, with accusative and infinitive.[2][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a presentiment of the future.[2][8]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar, of foreseeing with the mind.[5][8]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of sensing deceit.[2][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To perceive beforehand with the senses.[2][5][1]
  2. To have a presentiment of, foresee, presage.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • praesēnsiō

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes dīvīnāre, foreseeing by divine inspiration, praesāgīre, by a natural gift of mind bordering on the supernatural, and praesentīre and praevidēre, by an unusual measure of natural talent.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
Cite this entry

“Praesentio.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/praesentio. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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