Etymologically
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prehensio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [preˈ(ɦ)ẽː.si.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [preˈɛn.si.o][1]

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]

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