prandium

Forms

prandium n (genitive prandiī or prandī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

De Vaan explains it as Proto-Italic *prāmo-ed-io- (“first meal”), from *prāmo- (“first”), Proto-Indo-European *pr̥h₃-mo- (“first”), and the root of edō (“to eat”), Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed- (“to eat”);^[2][1] the OLD gives the same analysis, comparing Lithuanian pìrmas (“first”) and Old English forma (“first”).^[3][2] De Vaan also compares Faliscan pramom (“first (?)”).^[2] The TLL thinks the word probably first meant a meal taken in the morning.^[4] Lewis & Short had connected the first part with a word for “early” and the second with diēs (“day”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first and often, as in the Captivi, of going to lunch.^[5][2][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a meal eaten about midday, a late breakfast or luncheon, as against ientāculum and cēna.^[3][5] Lewis & Short describe it as bread, fish and cold meat, and note that several dishes and wine at it were thought gluttonous;^[5] Seneca's is dry bread without a table.^[5] Cicero speaks of inviting someone to lunch and of lavish preparations for such meals.^[5] Wiktionary adds any meal, and fodder for animals.^[1] In Medieval Latin it was also the right to be fed by a host, the compulsory provision of meals.^[7] Church Latin glosses it breakfast, meal or luncheon.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of going to lunch and of cooking lunch for someone.^[5][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of invitations to lunch.^[5][6]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca the Younger of a lunch of dry bread.^[5][6]
• 1820 – English prandial is formed from it.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A late breakfast, luncheon, a meal eaten about midday; any meal.^[3][5][8][1]
2. Fodder for animals.^[1]
3. (Medieval Latin) The right to be fed by a host, compulsory catering.^[7]

Word family

• prandeō
• prandiolum
• prandiculum

Related words

• dēprāns
• imprānsus
• prānsitō
• prānsor
• prānsōrius
• edō
• English prandial

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com