praetorianus

Forms

praetōriānus (feminine praetōriāna, neuter praetōriānum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] Documents and inscriptions also spell it pretorianus.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin praetōrium (“general's tent; headquarters”) + -ānus.^[3][2][4] Wiktionary derives it from praetor with -iānus, and Lewis & Short have a second entry from praetor for the sense of the praetor.^[1][5] De Vaan derives praetor from *prai-itōr, “one who goes before”, from prae (“before”) and eō (“to go”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *ei- (“to go”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁ei- (“to go”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and Lewis & Short date it from Pliny the Elder, of the praetorian soldiers,^[4][5] and Tacitus uses it often.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It means belonging to the praetorian cohorts, the emperor's bodyguard, and as a noun a soldier of those cohorts; the plural praetōriānī are the praetorian guard.^[3][5] Suetonius speaks of the praetorian army, and the epitome of Aurelius Victor of the praetorian prefecture.^[5] In later law and in Augustine it also means belonging to the praetor, as a praetorian guardian in Ulpian and the fees of a praetor's court.^[5][4]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of praetorian soldiers.^[5][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of the praetorian guards.^[5][4]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of the praetorian army.^[5][4]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine of fees of the praetor's court.^[5][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or belonging to the praetorian cohorts, the emperor's bodyguard.^[3][5][1]
2. (Late Latin) Of or belonging to the praetor.^[5][4]

Noun

1. A soldier of the praetorian cohorts; in the plural, the praetorian guard.^[3][5]

Related words

• praetōrium
• praetor

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill