praeterfluo

Forms

praeterfluō (present infinitive praeterfluere); third conjugation, no perfect or supine stems^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin praeter- (“past, beyond”) + fluō (“to flow”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces fluō to Proto-Italic *flow-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰleuH- (“to flow (over)”).^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek φλέω (phléō, “to abound”), φλύω (phlúō, “to seethe, boil over”) and Lithuanian bliáuti (“to bleat, sob”).^[4] The prefix is praeter (“past, beyond”), which de Vaan lists among the derivatives of prae (“before”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Cato, Varro and Cicero.^[3] Cato uses it figuratively in his work on military matters, saying that he let the speeches of his detractors flow past him.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense is to flow past, said of water and rivers.^[2][7] Varro uses it without an object, of water that should flow past a place, and Curtius of running water.^[2][8] With an object it means to flow past or wash a place: Sallust's Histories have the river Turia flowing past Valentia, Livy a river flowing past city walls, and Velleius and Mela rivers flowing along a territory or past a town.^[2][6][8]

The figurative sense is to slip past or vanish.^[2][5] Cicero speaks of not letting a past pleasure slip from memory,^[2][6] and Quintilian says that teaching is in vain if all we hear flows past us.^[2][3] Augustine uses it of sound passing into the past.^[3] The TLL notes that the perfect is very rare and the present, often the participle, is the usual form, and that in verse it occurs only in Priscian's Periegesis.^[3]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of speeches he let flow past him.^[2][9]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of water flowing past.^[2][9]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of a river flowing past a town.^[2][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a pleasure slipping from memory.^[2][9]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of lessons that flow past the hearer.^[2][9]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of sound passing into the past.^[3][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To flow past.^[2][5]
2. (transitive) To flow past (a place), wash.^[2][7]
3. (figurative) To slip past, pass away, vanish.^[2][5][6]

Related words

• affluō
• circumfluō
• cōnfluō
• dēfluō
• diffluō
• effluō
• fluō
• īnfluō
• interfluō
• perfluō
• praeter

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 k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de