proconsulatus

Forms

prōcōnsulātus m (genitive prōcōnsulātūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prōcōnsul (“proconsul”) + -ātus.^[2][1][3] De Vaan explains cōnsul (“consul”) as a noun made to the verb cōnsulō (“to deliberate, consult”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *kom-se/ol-e/o- (“to consult”) and Proto-Indo-European *s(e)lh₁-e/o- (“to take”).^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek εἷλον (heîlon, “I took”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Pliny the Elder.^[3] Lewis & Short call it post-Augustan and cite Pliny, Tacitus and Pliny the Younger.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It means the office or rank of a proconsul, the proconsulship.^[2][5][1] Suetonius uses it once of a propraetorship.^[5][1] In inscriptions it is abbreviated, from the late 3rd century on, as proc, procos or procons.^[6] In medieval British Latin John of Salisbury uses it of the office of a justiciar.^[7]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, the office of proconsul.^[5][3]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus, in the Annals.^[5][3]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius, of a propraetorship.^[5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The office or rank of a prōcōnsul, proconsulship.^[2][5][1]
2. A propraetorship.^[5][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) The office of a justiciar.^[7]

Related words

• cōnsulātus
• prōcōnsul
• prōcōnsulāris

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b 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 e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b 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