praetensio

Forms

praetēnsiō f (genitive praetēnsiōnis); third declension^[1][2] Medieval spellings include praetentio^[3] and pretensio.^[4][1]

Etymology

It is from Latin praetendō (“to stretch out in front, put forward”),^[5][1] formed with the suffix -tiō on its past participle ⟨praetēnsus⟩ or ⟨praetentus⟩.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first dated record is an inscription from Arabia of the late 3rd or 4th century AD, where the TLL reads it of fortifying the frontier, in a corrupt and obscure context.^[5] The Old Latin Bible (Vetus Latina) has it in one recension of 1 Maccabees for lying in wait, an ambush set against the sanctuary, where the other versions have insidiae.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Köbler glosses it as a stretching forward or projecting, and records it in Rusticus (after 553).^[1]

In medieval Britain it meant an allegation or assertion, and then an unauthorized claim, as to an office or a throne.^[3] Polish documents from 1420 on use it for a claim or demand,^[4] and in Neo-Latin it is the usual word for a legal or political claim, as in Camden, Bacon and Campanella on claims to a crown or kingdom.^[2] English pretension, at first “assertion, allegation”, comes from the medieval word.^[6]

Timeline

• late 3rd or 4th century AD – An inscription from Arabia uses it, apparently of fortifying the frontier.^[5]
• after 553 – Rusticus uses it.^[1][5]
• c. 1090 – Goscelin has the spelling praetentio for an assertion.^[3][1]
• 1420 – A Polish document uses it for a claim.^[4]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as pretensioun.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) A lying in wait, an ambush.^[5]
2. (Late Latin) A stretching forward, projection.^[1]
3. (Medieval Latin) An allegation, assertion.^[3]
4. (Medieval Latin, New Latin) A claim, especially an unauthorized one or one to a title or crown; a pretension.^[3][4][2]

Related words

• English pretension

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
2. ^ a b c Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
3. ^ a b c d e f 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
4. ^ a b c d Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
5. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com