privignus

Forms

prīvignus m (genitive prīvignī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prīvus (“one's own, separate”) + -gnus (“born”), with the second part from the root of gignō (“to beget”).^[2][1][3] The TLL explains the original sense as "born separately", that is, from an earlier marriage, and takes ⟨-gno-⟩ for the old form, as in benignus, with ⟨prīvigenus⟩ a later variant.^[3] Wiktionary explains ⟨-ignus⟩ for the expected *prīvognus by analogy.^[1] De Vaan traces prīvus to Proto-Italic *prei-wo- (“separate, individual”) and Proto-Indo-European *prei-wo-, built on the stem of prior, and gignō to Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is a stepson, and in the plural stepchildren: Tacitus writes of a woman who would be a parent to her stepchildren, and Papinian notes that stepchildren may marry each other.^[2] The OLD also records an adjective, related as a stepson.^[2] Lewis & Short quote a definition: a wife is a stepmother to her husband's children by another wife, and both are said to have stepchildren.^[6] The feminine ⟨prīvigna⟩ is a stepdaughter.^[6] In medieval Latin it also meant a father-in-law.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.^[5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of stepchildren.^[2][5]
• before 212 AD – Papinian on marriage between stepchildren.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stepson; in the plural, stepchildren.^[2][6][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) A father-in-law.^[7]

Related words

• prīvigna
• prīvus
• noverca
• vitricus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ 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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill