precatio

Forms

precātiō f (genitive precātiōnis); third declension^[1] The spelling praecatio occurs in inscriptions and in old manuscripts.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin precor (“to pray, ask”) + -tiō.^[3][1][2] De Vaan lists precor among the derivatives of prex (“prayer, request”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *prek- and Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- (“question”), a root noun from the root of poscō (“to demand”) and procus (“suitor”).^[4] Cognate with Welsh rheg (“gift; curse”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it in prose from Cicero on, apart from an uncertain instance in some annals;^[2] Cicero speaks of sollemnis comitiorum precatio, “the solemn prayer of the elections”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It means an act of supplication or prayer,^[3][5] and also a set form of words used in praying:^[3][6] Livy mentions books of prophecies or prayers, Cicero the prayer of the augurs that names the Tiber and nearby rivers, and Gellius old prayers that contain the divine names Diovis and Vediovis.^[3] In Pliny the Elder it is a magic formula of the magi for driving away locusts.^[3][7] The TLL notes that it is far rarer than prex, seldom used of private life, and found in verse only in Dracontius.^[2] Valerius Maximus distinguishes it from votum: in religious rites one commends something with a precatio and asks for something with a vow.^[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it is prayer, entreaty and supplication.^[8] In Medieval Latin it also meant a petition, a precarial contract and a tallage,^[9] and in English manors the boon-work, the day's work a tenant did at the lord's request.^[10]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the solemn prayer of the elections.^[5][2][11]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it some sixteen times, also for written prayer formulas.^[2][3][11]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder reports a prayer of the magi against locusts.^[3][11]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius quotes old prayers naming Diovis and Vediovis.^[3][11]
• c. 484 AD – Dracontius has its only use in verse.^[2][11]
• 789 – It appears in a charter.^[11]
• c. 1270 – An English cartulary uses it of boon-work.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. An act of supplication; a prayer.^[3][5][6]
2. A set form of words used in praying; a prayer formula, also a magic one.^[3][6][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) A petition.^[9]
4. (Medieval Latin) A precarial contract.^[9]
5. (Medieval Latin) A tallage.^[9]
6. (Medieval Latin) Boon-work owed by a tenant to the lord of the manor.^[10]

Related words

• prex
• precor
• precātor
• dēprecātiō

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b c 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
11. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de