- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Compound
- First attested
- Ovid
- Ultimate origin
- Proto-Indo-European (*swenH-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Pronunciation
Forms
praesonō (present infinitive praesonāre, perfect active praesonuī); first conjugation, no passive, no supine stem[1]
Etymology
It is from Latin prae- (“before”) + sonō (“to sound”).[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨sonō⟩ to Proto-Italic *swena-, from Proto-Indo-European *swenH- (“to sound”).[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
The OLD's earliest citation is from Ovid's Amores, praesonuit sollemnī tībia cantū “the flute sounded first with its solemn tune”.[2][4] Köbler dates Ovid 43 BC–18 AD.[5]
Semantic evolution
It meant to make a sound beforehand, as in Ovid, and transitively to surpass with one's sound, as in Calpurnius Siculus.[2][6]
In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to resound, sound out.[7]
Timeline
Meanings
Verb
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
- ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry
“Praesono.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/praesono. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.
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