Etymologically
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praeverto

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [prae̯ˈwɛr.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [preˈvɛr.to][1]

Forms

praevertō (present infinitive praevertere, perfect active praevertī, supine praevertum); third conjugation[1] Plautus mostly writes praevortō, and he also has a deponent praevertor.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin prae- (“before”) + vertō (“to turn”).[2][4][1] Wiktionary traces vertō to Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn”).[1] The TLL notes that the spelling ⟨-vort-⟩ is kept in the old manuscripts of Plautus, and the OLD that it is usual in his text.[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, in the Miles gloriosus, of turning a cup towards oneself before others, and in the Casina of forestalling the men.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

From turning something in a direction first it came to mean outrunning or overtaking, as in Catullus' runner who outstrips the hind,[2] and forestalling or anticipating, often so as to prevent something.[2][3] Plautus also uses it of a fear that takes hold of the mind first.[2] With the sense of attending to one matter before others it is common in Livy, of the tribunes letting the war be dealt with first.[2] Plautus has a deponent praevertor in that sense, which Lewis & Short find only in the present tense.[2][3] Lewis & Short also give the sense "to prefer", from Plautus' Amphitruo.[3] Stelten glosses it "go before, anticipate, surpass" in Church Latin.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of directing something first and of forestalling.[2][5]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus, of outrunning a hind.[2][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of attending to a matter first.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To direct or turn something first (in a given direction).[2]
  2. To outstrip, outrun, overtake.[2][3]
  3. To forestall, anticipate, often so as to prevent; to take hold of the mind first, preoccupy.[2][3][1]
  4. To attend to something first, deal with before other things.[2][1]
  5. (deponent praevertor) To turn one's attention first to, concern oneself chiefly with.[2][3]
  6. To prefer, put before.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson