Etymologically
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pressura

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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]
  • 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