Etymologically
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praetorianus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [prae̯.toː.riˈaː.nʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [pre.to.riˈaː.nus][1]

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]

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