Etymologically
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priusquam

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [priˈʊs.kʷãː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [priˈus.kʷam][1]

Forms

priusquam [1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prius (“earlier”) + quam (“than”).[1][2][3] De Vaan lists it under prior (“former”), whose stem Proto-Italic *prī̆-jos- is built on an adverb Proto-Indo-European *pr(e)i (“before”), as in Ancient Greek πρίν (prín, “before”) and Lithuanian priẽ (“at, by”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,[2] who has the impatient “you answer before I ask”.[3]

Semantic evolution

With the indicative it states a simple sequence in time; with the subjunctive it adds a notion of purpose or anticipation, as in Plautus' “she cannot be taken into the house before I have got rid of the other”.[3] It also takes an ablative absolute or a participle, as Livy's soldiers who refuse to return before the city is taken.[3] From the temporal sense it passes to comparison, “sooner than, rather than”: Propertius says rivers will flow back from the sea before his love changes.[3]

Church Latin has it for “before”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus with the indicative and the subjunctive.[3][2]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence in reported speech.[3][2]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius in the sense “sooner than”.[3][2]
  • 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy with an ablative absolute.[3][2]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. before; until.[3][1][5]
  2. Sooner than, rather than.[3]

Usage notes

It is also written separately, and other words can come between the parts: prius respondēs quam rogō.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson