pratum

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpraː.tũː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpraː.tum]^[1]

Forms

prātum n (genitive prātī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *prāto-, of uncertain origin.^[2][3] Steinbauer's Proto-Indo-European *prh₃-to- (“what has been allotted”) is the more attractive in meaning, while Walde–Hofmann and Pokorny's link with Old Irish ráth (“earthen wall”) is semantically weak.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it.^[2][5] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was a meadow or meadowland, as Cato's watered and dry meadows, which were manured and mown for hay, and in poetry the grass that grows there.^[7][4][5] Cicero uses it of the broad expanse of the sea, Neptūnia prāta, and Gellius mentions a miscellany titled Prātum.^[4]

In medieval Britain it was often a water-meadow, and measures of meadow were common in charters.^[8] Through Vulgar Latin *prātāria and Old French praerie it gave English prairie.^[3] It survives as Italian prato, French pré and Spanish prado.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[2][6]
• 234–149 BC – Cato distinguishes watered and dry meadows.^[7][6]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius mentions a miscellany titled Prātum.^[4][6]
• 1773 – English prairie is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A meadow, meadowland.^[4][7]
2. (poetic) Grass, what grows in a meadow.^[4][5]
3. A broad expanse (of the sea).^[4]

Related words

• pariō
• English prairie

Usage notes

Isidore says the meadow, whose hay feeds the herds, was named by the old Romans because it is ready at once (parātum) and needs little work.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).