praesidentia

Forms

praesidentia f (genitive praesidentiae); first declension^[1][2] Medieval spellings include presidentia and presidencia.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin praesidēns (“presiding; governor”), the present participle of praesideō (“to preside over”), with the suffix ⟨-ia⟩.^[3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Etymonline dates the Medieval Latin word to the middle of the 13th century, meaning the office of a president.^[5] The TLL records a possible earlier instance only as a conjecture in the Latin acts of a Church council.^[3]

Semantic evolution

British and Polish writers used it for the charge of a religious or secular establishment, for rule and authority, and in the phrase praesidentia apostolica for the papacy.^[4][2] Du Cange cites the letters of Jean de Montreuil for the rank of a president.^[6]

In Neo-Latin it meant rule or precedence; writers on astrology, among them Pico and Campanella, use it for the supposed rule of the stars over peoples and men.^[1] English presidency (1590s) comes from it.^[5]

Timeline

• mid-13th century – Medieval Latin uses it for the office of a president.^[5]
• 1439 – Bekynton's correspondence prays that God may help someone in the office entrusted to him.^[4]
• 1446 – A Polish synod speaks of synodal praesidentia.^[2]
• 1590s – English borrows it as presidency.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) Charge of an establishment; rule, presidency.^[4][2][6]
2. (Medieval Latin) praesidentia apostolica: the papacy.^[4]
3. (New Latin) Rule, precedence, also of the stars in astrology.^[1]

Related words

• praeses
• English presidency

References

1. ^ a b c Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
2. ^ a b c d e Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e 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
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre