praetergredior

Forms

praetergredior (present infinitive praetergredī, perfect active praetergressus sum); third (-iō variant) conjugation, deponent^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin praeter- (“past, beyond”) + gradior (“to step, walk”),^[2][3][1] with the root vowel ⟨e⟩ that the compounds of that verb have in a non-initial syllable.^[4] The simple verb goes back to Proto-Italic *grad-(e)i- and Proto-Indo-European *g(h)rd(h)-(e)i-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Cicero, the Bellum Africum, Sallust and Livy on, rarely and at first mostly in military contexts.^[3] In one of Cicero's letters his prefect reports that the addressee has already marched past his camp (tē iam castra mea praetergressum esse).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Sallust uses it of a rearguard that has passed the front ranks of its opponent,^[2][5] Livy of an army that passes a town without even trying to storm it,^[2][5] and Tacitus of marching past a people's borders.^[6] The speech to Caesar ascribed to Sallust uses it figuratively, of a man who has so far surpassed others.^[6][5] Apuleius uses it of walking past, and the TLL finds it in verse only in Ausonius.^[2][3]

Jerome and the Vulgate use it somewhat more often:^[3] in Mark the disciples pass through Galilee, and in Proverbs it means to overlook an offence.^[5] In Ecclesiastical Latin it also means to go beyond or transgress.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of marching past a camp.^[2][8]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of a rearguard passing an enemy's front ranks.^[2][8]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of passing a town without attacking it.^[2][8]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of marching past borders.^[6][8]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome's Vulgate uses it of passing through Galilee and of overlooking an offence.^[5][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To march or go past (without an object).^[2][6]
2. To pass by (a place or person).^[2][6][5]
3. (figurative) To surpass, excel.^[6][5][7]
4. (Late Latin) To pass over, overlook (an offence).^[5]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To go beyond, transgress.^[7]

Related words

• gradior
• praetereō

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b 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 e f g h Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de