Etymologically
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presso

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈprɛs.soː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈprɛs.so][1]

Forms

pressō (present infinitive pressāre, perfect active pressāvī, supine pressātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is a frequentative of premō “to press” with the suffix -tō, built on its participle pressus.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short cite Plautus, of pressing an abscess.[3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to press, exert pressure on, as in Lucretius, of a load to weigh down, as in Plautus, to press against something, as Ovid's ashes pressed to the breast, and to squeeze, as Virgil's milking of the udder.[2][5][3] Lewis and Short call it poetic.[3] Furius Antias has pressātur pede pēs “foot is pressed by foot”.[3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to distress, press.[6] It survives in French presser, Italian pressare and Spanish prensar.[1] Through Old French it is the source of English press about 1300.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of pressing and weighing down.[2][3][4]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of pressure.[2][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of milking.[5][4]
  • c. 1300 – English press is recorded.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To press; to weigh down.[2]
  2. To press (against).[2]
  3. To squeeze; to milk.[2][5]

Word family

  • compressō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com