praetempto

Forms

praetemptō (present infinitive praetemptāre, perfect active praetemptāvī, supine praetemptātum); first conjugation^[1] It is also spelled praetentō, the form under which Lewis and Short and Georges enter it.^[2][3] The TLL notes that a manuscript of Pliny has -tempt- where other medieval manuscripts and older editions print -tent-.^[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin prae- (“before”) + temptō (“to try, feel”).^[5][4][1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Tibullus, of a girl in the dark who “feels her way beforehand with her feet” (pedibus praetemptat iter).^[4][2][7]

Semantic evolution

The TLL notes that it occurs only once or twice in each author, in Tibullus, Ovid (five times), Seneca's tragedies, Lucan, Pliny the Elder, Valerius Flaccus, Quintilian and others.^[4] Its first use is physical: feeling out a way or a place before trusting it, as the blinded Cyclops gropes along the woods with his hand in Ovid, snails test their path with their horns in Pliny, and Suetonius uses it of searching a person by feeling the folds of the clothes.^[4][2]

From this it came to mean testing something before using it fully: Ovid has strength tried out and lyre strings tried with the thumb, Quintilian an advocate testing the judge's pity, and Tacitus charges first tried out.^[2][3][7] In the medical writer Caelius Aurelianus it means testing the body's functions to see whether a patient can bear stronger treatment.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 55–19/18 BC – Tibullus uses it of feeling one's way in the dark.^[4][8]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of the blinded Cyclops and of testing strength.^[4][2][8]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of snails feeling their way.^[2][8]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of testing a judge's pity.^[2][8]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of searching people and bedding.^[4][8]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it in medicine.^[4][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To feel or explore beforehand (a way, a place); to search (a person, bedding) by feeling.^[5][4][2]
2. To try out in advance, test (strength, feelings, an accusation).^[5][2][7]
3. (medicine) To test (a bodily function) before further treatment.^[4]

Usage notes

Lewis and Short and Georges also give it the senses “hold out in front” (Claudian) and “use as a pretext” (Valerius Flaccus);^[2][3] the OLD assigns that sense to a separate verb praetentō, formed from praetendō.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de