praxis

Forms

prāxis f sg (genitive prāxis or prāxeōs or prāxios); third declension^[1] The accusative is Latin praxim, the other cases mostly keep their Greek endings, and the word was written in Greek letters as well as Latin ones.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πρᾶξις (prâxis, “doing, action”).^[3][1][4] Köbler compares the Greek verb πράσσω (prássō, “to pass through, carry out, do”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero already uses it in his letters to Atticus, written in Greek letters, in the common sense of an action or deed, speaking of a “great deed” of Dolabella's.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Latin letters it appears in Petronius' phrase habere praxim, which the OLD takes, with hesitation, as “to offer a practical demonstration”,^[3] while the TLL thinks the passage corrupt and perhaps meaning “effect”.^[2] Quintilian equates it with actus “the act”, one of the elements that fix the issue of a case.^[2] As the Greek title of the Acts of the Apostles it was used by Hilary and Jerome.^[2]

In Medieval Latin it meant action, the doing or carrying out of something,^[4] and in scholastic philosophy practice as distinguished from theory and speculation.^[4] Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for exercise, practice and proof.^[6] Wiktionary also gives the senses method, technique, and the exercise of a profession.^[1]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero writes it in Greek letters in his letters to Atticus, of a deed.^[2][5]
• before 66 AD – Petronius has it in Latin letters, in the phrase habere praxim.^[3][7]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian glosses it with actus, the act at issue in a case.^[2]
• c. 315–367/368 AD – Hilary names the Acts of the Apostles by it.^[2]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome gives it as the title of the Acts of the Apostles.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An action, deed; a doing or carrying out.^[2][4]
2. Practical proof, demonstration (sense uncertain).^[3][8]
3. (plural, Late Latin) The Acts of the Apostles, as a book title.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin, philosophy) practice as distinguished from theory.^[4][6]
5. Method, technique; the exercise of a profession.^[1]

Related words

• English praxis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e 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
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.