prehensio

Forms

prehēnsiō f (genitive prehēnsiōnis); third declension^[1] The usual classical form is prēnsiō; the longer prehēnsiō occurs only in Tertullian and Chalcidius.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin prehendō (“to seize”) + -tiō, a noun of action from the participle stem.^[1][2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro, quoted by Gellius, uses it of the right to arrest: some magistrates have vocatio, the right to summon, others prensio, the right to seize, as the tribunes of the plebs.^[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

Ateius Capito, also in Gellius, reports Labeo's view that the tribunes had prensio but not vocatio.^[2][6] Tertullian uses it of an arrest,^[4][2] and Chalcidius of making out by sight stars that lie almost together.^[2][2][7][4] A reading in Caesar's Civil War once taken for a lifting machine is properly pressio.^[2][6] In Medieval Latin it meant requisition of food, the taking of waste land into cultivation, enfeoffment, a tribute from vineyards, and then captivity, ransom, a prison and a prisoner;^[8] in Poland it was used for the catching of fish and for fishing rights.^[9] Through prensiō it is the source of Old French preson, prison,^[5][2] and of Spanish prisión,^[2] and so of English prison;^[5] English prehension was borrowed from the Latin in the 1530s.^[5]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of the magistrates' right to arrest.^[2][10]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses the full form of an arrest.^[2][4][10]
• c. 300 AD – Chalcidius uses it of seeing or grasping by sight.^[2][4][10]
• 1416 – A Polish record uses it of fishing rights.^[9]
• 1530s – English borrows prehension.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A seizing, arrest, capture; the right to arrest.^{[6][3][2][4][1]}
2. (Late Latin) A grasping by sight, perception.^[2][4][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) Requisition of food; appropriation of waste land by cultivation; enfeoffment.^[8]
4. (Medieval Latin) A tribute in kind from vineyards.^[8]
5. (Medieval Latin) Captivity; ransom; a prison; a prisoner.^[8]
6. (Medieval Latin) The catching of fish; a right of fishing.^[9]

Related words

• prehendō
• English prison
• English prehension

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b c Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
10. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de