praevalidus

Forms

praevalidus (feminine praevalida, neuter praevalidum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prae- (“before, very”) + validus (“strong”);^[2][3][4] Lewis & Short link it with praevaleō (“to be very strong, prevail”).^[5] validus is from valeō (“to be strong”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *wal-ē- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂ulh₁-eh₁- (“to be strong”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler finds it first in Lucilius.^[4] In Virgil's Georgics it is used of very vigorous vines.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is outstandingly strong in body, as Livy's very powerful young man and Ovid's strong hands, or in growth, as Virgil's vines.^[2][5] Of states and armies it means strong in military or political power, as Livy's powerful city and Tacitus' cohorts.^[2][5] Valerius Maximus uses it of a very firm character.^[2] Lewis & Short note that it is not in Cicero or Caesar.^[5] The TLL finds no comparative; the superlative is in Salvian, and the Vulgate's Isaiah has nimis praevalidus.^[3] Stelten gives “very strong, very powerful, too productive”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius, the first instance.^[4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil, of vigorous vines.^[2][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of a strong young man and a powerful city.^[2][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of strong cohorts.^[5][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Very strong or powerful in body; vigorous in growth.^[2][5][1][7]
2. Of character, very strong or firm.^[2]
3. Very strong in military or political power; prevailing, prevalent.^[2][5][1]

Related words

• validus
• praevaleō
• valeō

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson