Etymologically
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praestolor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [prae̯ˈstoː.ɫɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [preˈstɔː.lor][1]

Forms

praestōlor (present infinitive praestōlārī or praestōlārier, perfect active praestōlātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1] An active praestōlō is also found: Lewis & Short cite praestolaras from Livius Andronicus and praestolabo from Turpilius.[2][3]

Etymology

It is derived from the adverb praestō1 (“at hand, ready”), with an unusual element ⟨-lā-⟩;[1][4] the TLL compares ambulō and the OLD calls the link with ⟨praestō⟩ possible.[4][3]

Döderlein derived it instead from Ancient Greek παραστέλλω (parastéllō).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has the old infinitive praestōlārier in the Epidicus.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It means to stand ready for someone, to wait for or expect a person, often with the idea of meeting or intercepting them,[3][2] and also to await an event; it takes the accusative or, in Cicero, the dative.[3] Sisenna, Caesar and Cicero use it in prose.[3]

Döderlein distinguishes it from exspectō, the plain mental act of waiting: the praestōlāns, like the opperiēns (opperior), intends to act when the awaited person comes, but he waits as a subordinate, to serve; he adds that it is a prose word, while opperīrī is poetic or select.[5] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to expect or wait for.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the Epidicus.[2][6]
  • 120–67 BC – Sisenna uses it of awaiting the arrival of troops.[3][6]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of Lucius Caesar waiting for someone's arrival at Clupea.[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To wait for, expect (a person), often in order to meet or intercept them.[3][2]
  2. To await (an event).[3]

References

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