pressura

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [prɛsˈsuː.ra]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [presˈsuː.ra]^[1]

Forms

pressūra f (genitive pressūrae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin premo (“to press”) + -ūra.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Seneca, in the Natural Questions, speaks of the pressure of waters.^[2] Köbler dates Seneca 4 BC–65 AD.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant pressing, pressure, and Lewis & Short call it post-Augustan.^[2][5] Columella and Pliny use it of the pressing of grapes or olives and of the liquid pressed out, and Pliny says one pressing should fill twenty sacks.^[2][6] Frontinus uses it of pressure on water, and Apuleius of the pressing of eyelids and of a crowd.^[2][6] Caelius Aurelianus uses it of the oppressive feeling of a nightmare.^[7]

In Christian Latin it meant affliction, tribulation, distress, and the TLL cites the Old Latin Gospel of John.^[8][3][1] In medieval Latin it was also a winepress and the lord's revenue from it.^[8] English pressure is recorded in the late 14th century as “suffering, anguish”.^[9]

Timeline

• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of the pressure of waters.^[2][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of pressing wine.^[2][4]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of a crowd.^[6][4]
• late 14th century – English pressure is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Pressing, pressure.^[2][5]
2. The pressing of grapes or olives; the juice pressed out.^[2][6]
3. A throng, crowd.^[6][1]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Affliction, tribulation.^[8][1]
5. (Medieval Latin) A winepress; its revenue.^[8]

Related words

• pressim
• pressiō
• pressō
• pressōrius
• pressulē
• pressulus
• pressus
• premō
• English pressure

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com