- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Compound
- First attested
- Cicero
- Ultimate origin
- Proto-Indo-European (*weyd-)
Pronunciation
Forms
praevideō (present infinitive praevidēre, perfect active praevīdī, supine praevīsum); second conjugation[1]
Etymology
It is from prae- “before” and videō “to see”.[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨videō⟩ to Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see”).[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
Köbler's first source is Cicero, whom he dates 81–43 BC, and the OLD cites Cicero for “to foresee”.[4][2]
Semantic evolution
It meant to see beforehand, and figuratively to realize beforehand, foresee, as in Cicero.[2] Virgil uses it of seeing a blow coming from above, and Ovid also has it.[5][6]
It survives in French prévoir, Italian prevedere and Spanish prever.[1]
Timeline
- 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of foreseeing.[2][4]
- 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of seeing a blow coming.[5][4]
Meanings
Verb
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
Cite this entry
“Praevideo.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/praevideo. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
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