praetura
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Pronunciation
Forms
praetūra f (genitive praetūrae); first declension[1] It is spelled prētūra in late manuscripts.[2]
Etymology
It is formed from praetor (“praetor”) with the suffix -ūra.[3][2][1] De Vaan explains ⟨praetor⟩ as ⟨*prai-itōr⟩, “one who goes before”, from prae- (“before”) and the root of eō (“to go”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ei- (“to go”).[4]
Earliest recorded meaning
Köbler records it from Cicero on, who speaks of the jurisdiction of the praetorship and of a praetor made to resign it.[5][6]
Semantic evolution
Praetūra is the office of praetor, and also that of a propraetor governing a province;[3][6] Lewis & Short add the term of office.[3][6] Cicero applies it to the Athenian generalship, saying that Pericles had the poet Sophocles as his colleague in praetūrā.[3]
Timeline
- 81–43 BC – Cicero of the praetorship and of Pericles' generalship.[3][6][5]
- 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it.[6][5]
Meanings
Noun
- The office of praetor, the praetorship; a propraetorship.[3][1][6]
- The term of a praetor's office.[6]
- (of Athens) The office of strategos, generalship.[3]
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press