Etymologically
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praetorium

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Forms

praetōrium n (genitive praetōriī or praetōrī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin praetor (“praetor; general”) + -ium,[1][2] which the OLD derives from the adjective praetōrius (“of a praetor or general”).[3] De Vaan explains ⟨praetor⟩ as ⟨*prai-itōr⟩, “one who goes before”, from prae (“before”) and eō (“to go”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero and Caesar have it for the general's headquarters in camp:[3] Cicero tells of a man sacrificing in front of the praetōrium.[3]

Semantic evolution

From the general's tent it passed to the council of officers held there, as in Livy's “the council was dismissed”,[3][2] and to the headquarters of a provincial governor, as in Cicero's speeches against Verres.[3] Inscriptions use it for rest houses built along the military roads for travelling officials.[3] Under the Empire it named the imperial bodyguard, the Praetorian Guard, from Pliny the Elder and Tacitus on.[3] Juvenal and Suetonius use it for a grand country mansion: Juvenal's rich owe their gardens and palaces to crime.[3]

Church Latin has it for a palace, a governor's hall and a court of judgment.[5] Medieval Latin uses it for a manor or castle and for a hall of justice.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a general's and a governor's headquarters.[3][7]
  • 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy of a council of war.[3][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of the Praetorian Guard.[3][7]
  • c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal of a grand mansion.[3][7]
  • 528–534 AD – The Code of Justinian.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A general's headquarters or tent; a council of war held there; a governor's residence.[3][2][1]
  2. A rest house for travelling officials.[3]
  3. The Praetorian Guard.[3]
  4. A large mansion, palace.[3][1][5]
  5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A judgment hall, courtroom.[5][6]
  6. (Medieval Latin) A manor, castle.[6]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de