pretio

Forms

pretiō (present infinitive pretiāre, perfect active pretiāvī, supine pretiātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pretium (“price, value”), a verb formed on the noun.^[2][3][1] Compare the compound appretiō.^[2] The verb survives in Italian prezzare and Old Occitan prezar.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first author the dictionaries cite is Cassiodorus, who says in his Variae that veins of gems aurī fulgōre pretiantur, “are prized for the gleam of gold”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it meant “to value, esteem”,^[2][3][5] and in Gregory of Tours also to value something at a sum of money, with the price in the accusative.^[2] Medieval Latin used it chiefly for appraising property and setting its value,^[6][7] as in the Domesday Book,^[7] beside the older sense “to prize, esteem”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it of gems prized for their gleam.^[2][4]
• 538/539–594 AD – Gregory of Tours: ornaments valued at more than three thousand solidi.^[2][4]
• Medieval Latin – It is used for appraising land and goods.^[6][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (Late Latin) to esteem, prize, value.^[2][3][5]
2. (Late Latin) to value at (a sum of money).^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) to appraise, assess, set a value on.^[6][7][1]

Word family

• pretiātor
• appretiō

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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press